


Boku wa on'nanoko!

by GuraKruor



Category: Tenkuu no Escaflowne | The Vision of Escaflowne
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Childhood, Children, Crossdressing, F/M, Forced Crossdressing, Gen, Laboratories, Prison
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2011-09-11
Updated: 2014-10-04
Packaged: 2018-02-15 06:04:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Underage
Chapters: 5
Words: 22,905
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2218545
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GuraKruor/pseuds/GuraKruor
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Childfic. They met in Zaibach labs, only the fittest will see a new day and the most skilled prevail. Both are part of an experiment to raise the best captains and soldiers, they must fight to the death other children. Elements of the Film, Anime and the game. Twenty-seven is an amnesiac boyish girl with psionic powers and Dilandau, Twenty-one, a half-draconian boy who was raised by wolves.</p><p>This work has been <b>discontinued</b>!</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Il Giudizio ─ Twenty-one & Twenty-seven

**Author's Note:**

> This chapter has been betaed by _**Strata-Assassin**_ [03/12/13]. Thank you very much for your help!
> 
>  **Disclaimer:** I don't own Escaflowne characters, only "the child".
> 
> Well, this is my first fanfic wiii~ Be gentile please *x* If the grammar or the spelling are bad or monstrous abominations is because I'm good at reading english but terrible writing it and Strata-Assassin isn't the one to blame!
> 
> This is the notation I will use.
> 
>  
> 
> _Italics for thinking._
> 
>  
> 
> XXXFlasbackXXX At the beginning and the end of a flashback
> 
> The child and the boy refers to themselves using the pronoun Boku - I, but for boys. The child speaks with cajun accent.
> 
> Well, without further ado, we begin. Enjoy it.

**Il Giudizio**

_It hurts…_

Unspeakable pain pierces the child's head.

_It itches…_

The child touches his forehead and notes bandages around his head. Terror invades him he and attempts to remove his bandages.

"Don't do that! You'll hurt yourself!"

The child opens his eyes and sees a boy about the same age as him. At that moment, gray specularite meets with blood-red ruby. He is a very beautiful boy with silver hair, porcelain skin and carmine eyes framed by long lashes. The child's upper half was in the lap of the boy and he touches the face of the child.

"Angel?" The child raises his tiny hand to touch the ivory face of the boy. He takes the child's hand and smiles warmly. It was like the moonlight over a silver lake.

"How do you feel?" His voice is deep and smooth.

 _Where am ah?_ The child tries to speak again but his throat is dry and sticky.

"Drink." The boy puts him a glass of water to his lips and the child drinks quickly. "Hey! Don't drink so fast or you will drown." The child finishes his liquid and tries to speak again.

"Where am ah?" His voice was deeper than the boy's and kind of raspy.

 _He uses such a strange accent._ The boy thought, his gaze seems sad but tries to smile "We're in a laboratory of the Zaibach Empire," he said grimly.

The boy asks the child: "What's your name? Do you remember it?"

"My name…Ah don't know… and yours?" The child touches his head and notes it was shaved.

"I don't remember either, but they call me Number Twenty-one," he says and points to his shoulde where a strange glyph rests. Then to the child's shoulder and says, "You must be Number Twenty-seven."

The room is dark and wet. Leaks are dripping in all the corners, but a faint ray of silvery light from the moon shines through the small window, partially illuminating the face of the boy and making his hair shine like the moon herself. This place smells of water, moss and like a dirty bathroom however that fact didn't bothers the boy a lot and, for some reason, this room was kind of familiar to the child.

"Well Twenty-seven, how old are you?" The child closes his eyes and starts to count.

"Ah don't know," Twenty-seven says. "And you?"

"Seven, well that's what they told me. Where are you from?"

 _This guy changes the subject vary fast!_ thought the child.

"Ah don't know, but ah remember a light." An image appears in the mind of the boy. "And many men," the child continues, "above me with white hands, cruel eyes and pointy shining sticks." The scene is vivid in the boy's mind, even the cold touch of their smooth hands and the pain when a neddle pierced his neck to inject him a cold liquid.

"What are you doing?" The boy looks terrified and starts to move his irises as if he were paralyzed by the fluid injected by the men in the child's neck.

"Ahrg!" the boy cries and starts to frantically to pull his hair. Getting up, he throws the child off his lap. "Ahrg! The pain! I can't stop feeling the pain! Stop it, you bloody bastard!" From the boy's forehead blood starts flowing and his skin is cut for no apparent reason, but in reality he was watching how those men were cutting him with scalpels.

"Sorry," Twenty-seven cries and shuts his eyes. "Ah don't know how to stop it." Tears stream down his cheeks and he tries to wipe it. The child's head felt heavy and and he hears a buzz.

"Hey, you!" A guard approaches the cell.

Twenty-one's eyes glow amber and then a shockwave emerges from the boy's forehead, throwing the man against the wall. The guard's head is shattered by the blow and his body falls to the ground as if it were a rag doll. Another guard approaches to see his partner and pukes.

"What have you done to him?!" Twenty-seven faces the man tears in his eyes, and they glow aquamarine. The man starts to feel the same despair as Twenty-one and shouts, "Help! Help me!"

"Jajuka! Help me!" shouts the boy as he cries and carves his nails into his own flesh.

Quickly, four cloaked men arrive and open the metallic door of the room "You dirty lab rat!"He begins to rotate the knob of a bizarre box. "Stop this madness!" An electric shock goes through Twenty-seven's head and he screams.

"Ahrg!" He opens his eyes wide, raises his hands to his head, falls unconscious and starts to convulse. Quickly, a golden dogman approaches Twenty-one, but with precaution.

"Calm down my boy, Jajuja's right here with you." One of the cloaked men moves towards the boy. His aquamarine hair is long and spiky; his eyes like a pair of cruel garnet orbs.

"Stop Twenty-one!" The man's eyes glow amber and a shockwave flows from his forehead. The boy seems to be suspended in the air by an invisible hand around his neck. Twenty-one struggles and then a needle floats toward him to punctures his collar. The boy falls to the ground like a sack of potatoes with his eyes and mouth open.

The dogman walks toward the boy and caresses him "Be quiet. It's over." The golden beast pulls the needle from his neck. Twenty-one hugs the dogman and cries in silence.

Meanwhile, another cloaked man approaches the child, puts a cloth on his mouth and injects him a green liquid. "This is all."

The green haired man faces the fallen guard. "If something like this happens again you will be with these lab rats in the cell!" he says with a stern voice.

"Don't worry, this won't happen again," the guard says with a face full of guilty.

"You better, you've been warned." With that the cloaked men leaves the cell.

The guard turns furious to the infants. "You!" Points Twenty-one. "White rat! Better take care of that bald rat or the sorcerers are going to punish you double! And you, beast, leave that thing and come with me" He left the cell.

"Don't leave me alone." the boy cries and tries to stop the dogman by pulling his cloth.

"I'm sorry; I'll be back shortly." He gives Twenty-one a piece of his clothing to cover the wound inflicted by his new cellmate's ability and he gets out of the room.

The boy takes the cloth and starts to bandage his forehead as he sits down on the ground.

"Like hell I'd take care of that boy!" the silver haired boy said. The child was still convulsing. "Shit!" The boy approaches the child. "Hey." He tries to put him with the back in the ground. "Well, I think that's enough."

XXXFlashbackXXX

Twenty-seven awakes in a dark room on a dusty brown carpet. There are some dirty couches and the walls are stained with water. At his left there is a chimney with burned logs and to his right there are small windows near the ceiling with heavy curtains blocking the light. There is no sound from outside. The door opens and an old woman enters the room with a tray with something that doesn't smells very well. "Eat it," says the old woman abruptly. She throws the tray on the floor and leaves the room. The child hears the sound of a key locking the door. Suddenly, he notices his stomach growls and starts to eat from the tray regardless of odor.

XXXFlashbackXXX

"Wake up you little freaks!" the guard shouts. "Here are your meals." He takes their bowls and spit on them "Enjoy it…" He leaves laughing.

Twenty-seven gets up from the ground, approaches the bowls and starts to eat the sticky porridge.

"You're disgusting. How can you eat that after seeing he spit on it?" says Twenty-one. The child stops eating.

"Ah am vary hungry, so ah eat, what's wrong with dat?" he says as he licks his fingers "In any case, if you don't want to eat dis, can you give me your portion?" he points the other bowl.

"You can have it!" the boy says and throws the bowl to Twenty-seven. "I'm going to wait for Jajuka. He brings me food without nasty fluids on it."

"That Jajuka guy sounds like you trust him, is he your friend?" the child asks as he starts to eat Twenty-one's porridge.

"Well, you can say something like that, but he's my servant. He taught me how to talk, read and write, also the rules of this place," the boy says proudly. "And why we are here," he stated that in a gloomy mood.

"Why are we here…?" the child whispers. "About before…Ah'm vary sorry…Dat wasn't on purpose… Ah don't even know how it happened. In any case, you say that Jajuka guy told you about why are we here, can you tell me? Please."

"Hmm," the boy murmurs. "Alright, but don't think I'm doing this for you," Twenty-one states in an angry mood. "It's only because we're going to be stuck here together for a long time." He pauses a moment. "But, I'm going to tell you under my conditions." He holds his thumb up. "First, never use that tricks of yours against me." Up goes the index finger. "Second, you're going to obey all my orders without complaint." Middle finger up. "And third, never leave me alone." The boy finishes and waits for an answer.

"Fine, ah can fulfill your conditions." Then Twenty-one moves his extended hand towards Twenty-seven.

"Then, that's a promise." He extends his pinky. "Do the same." Twenty-seven does as the boy tells him to do. Twenty-one links his pinky with Twenty-seven's. "And with this, it's settled."

"Listen carefully because this is the first and last time I will explain this" the child nods. "Fine, as I told you before we're on a laboratory of the Zaibach Empire. Here they make many experiments on human beings, beast people and animals. They chose you probably for that trick of yours and started messing with your head as part of those tests. I've being here for almost two years since they found me in the woods near the Floresta Mountains." He pauses as if he were remembering something.

"They killed my parents and siblings, and now their fur is hanging on the walls of one of those vile pigs." He clenches his teeth and presses his hand into a fist. He seems to want to cry, but he holds. "They put me in this cell and ordered Jajuka to teach me how to talk because until that day I only knew growl like my parents taught me to do, they were wolves. He taught me to write and told me that I wasn't like everyone else; that I belonged to the nearly extinct race of the draconian people, and because of that I'm here."

"Parents, siblings…?" the child seems not to understand those terms. "What are dose?"

"Are you stupid?" Twenty-seven looks into Twenty-one's grayish eyes and sees that he's serious about that question. "That can't be true! I can't believe it! You don't know it!" he says angrily. "Do I have to explain everything to you? Are you a pup?" He covers his face with the palm, massages his eyes and breathes deeply. "God! This will be a long night…"


	2. Huit de Pique ─ The Watchdog

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter has been corrected [09/28/2013]
> 
>  **Disclaimer:** I don't own Escaflowne's characters and world, only Number twenty-seven.
> 
> Be gentile please *x* If the grammar or the spelling are bad or monstrous abominations is because I'm good at reading english but terrible writing it. This chapter wasn't betaed and Strata-Assassin has no blame to take for my mistakes.
> 
> This is the notation I will use.
> 
> _Italics for thinking._  
>  Jajuka refers himself as Ore – I, but for teenage boys.

**Huit de Pique**

The child still eats the porridge, they hear the distant voices of the guards making bets about who spits further. Twenty-one sits on the ground with legs crossed and supports the right elbow on one knee to hold his head.

"Well, I'm going to explain you what Jajuka told me before," he said with a bored expression on his face "Parents are the guys who give you the life and take care of you. They feed you, search shelter for you, teach you how to communicate, and how to behave with the others," the pauses for a moment "Do you understand me or I'm going very fast?"

"Ah understand you, but not vary well," Twenty-seven narrows his eyes in a thoughtful expression on the face.

"Fine, then I'm going to explain you what I know about it, maybe you can understand this," the child nods and eats more pouridge. The boy closes his eyes and breathes deeply. "When I was with papa, mama and my siblings I drank mama's milk and papa gave us fresh meat he hunted."

In the child's mind appeared the image of two gray animals which faces looked like Jajuka's, they look him with an expression he doesn't knew but surely wasn't the same of the person who gave him food on his dream.

"Mama taught me how to growl, about the dangers of the woods and how to walk," Twenty-one smiles softly while he says this. The child can see a beautiful animal cuddling him and liking his face.

"Dad taught me how to hunt my food, the routes through the forest and how to defend myself against the other wolves of the pack," the boy makes a fierce face. Now the child was standing on a field full of greenery, the wind was warm and fragrant.

"With my siblings was different, we played to catch squirrels," he extends his arms as if catching the little rodent "Hide and seek," he makes a playful expression. The gray eyed child can see two little animals like the other two. "We ran on races and fought friendly, like a training for real battles," the boy punches and scratch the air, then he makes a serious face.

"When the Black Dragon's army came for me, they fought until the very end. I tried to defend myself and my siblings but they outnumbered us and had weapons."

What Twenty-seven saw was fire and blood. The two bigger animals fought to protect him while he escaped with the other two little animals, but he failed. Soon many armoured men surrounded them and with iron tubes they shot his little companions. Rage invaded him and a shockwave hit the guards, many of their limbs were ripped of their bodies or exploded. He lifted his siblings with his arms and started to cry. The guards died trying to approach him, when they began to retreat a tall man came; he had green hair and a pair of cruel blood-red eyes. He waved his right hand and grabbed the air. The next things the child felt was like if he was floating on the air, lifted by an invisible hand which asphyxiated him.

The gray eyed child put his hands around his own neck fighting the invisible grasp. The air started to lack in his lungs and scratched his skin with his nails.

 _What was dat!_ Then he started to cry.

"Hey!" the boy approached to the child, grab him by the shoulders and snap his fingers together in front of his face. "What's happening to you!" When the child saw his red orbs the cold hearted man disappeared and thus he regained his breath.

"Are you fine now?" the child nodded. When the child raised his hand to touch his own neck the hand disappeared and he was again on the room with the silver haired boy.

"Thanks god, I thought you were going to die," the boy turned to see the door. "Now, what was that?" he asked with a serious tone.

_If Ah tell him he's going to be mad at me. Ah'll ask him latter about what Ah saw._

"Who knows…?" he tried to avoid the boy's gaze.

"Don't try to fool me!" the boy tighten his grip "You saw it, don't you? I told you to stop with that trick of yours!" he looked really mad.

"Sorry" the child cryed softly "I can't control it," then the boy softened his grip.

"Fine, you are such a crybaby," he said behind his teet "but when you learn to control it you must never use it against me! Deal?"

"Fine, but don't be mad at me" then he released the child shoulders.

"Sorry about that but I don't like when people see inside my head, they made it in the beginning and from that on I don't like it" the boy pressed his legs to his chest and hugged them "Leaving that aside, did you understand me? Do you have any question?"

"Yes but the only thing Ah don't understand is why they must do that for you?" the boy closed his eyes and made a serene face.

"That's easy. Because they loved me" he opened his crimson eyes "Did you not have someone who treated you the same way?"

The child stops eating his pouridge.

"Ah don't know"  _They surely aren't like the person in my dream…_

"One day you'll remember. It's a matter of time. But if it does not happen, don't worry, it's not uncommon."

"Now, if you don't have more silly questions. We must clean that wound of yours of they will get mad at me," Twenty-one grabbed a bag and took a rag. He started to clean the lesion and tied it with the rag.

 _They do a work like Jajuka's…_  Thought the child.

"Fine, this will work"

"But that makes him like your father, doesn't it?" Twenty-seven says.

"Who?" Twenty-one see to the eye to the child.

"That Jajuka guy, " the silver-haired boy rises quickly from the floor and open widely his bloody colored eyes. Then the child takes the bowl and continues to eat.

"Ah can tell it from how he see you, he look you with the same gaze on his eyes, like your parents saw at you, " he says with the pouridge in the mouth.

Twenty-one blushes and shouts "Stop talking nonsense!" he steps back from the child "He's a beastman, he can only be my servant, "he says with a sad voice "Or that's what he told me, "he mumbles.

"Shut up! And stop talking to me while you eat that filthy thing! Is nasty how you spit me that garbage on the shirt!" he says while shakes off the food of the shirt and walk to the door. Then he sits on the floor with the legs and arms folded. The time passes and he starts to doze.

"Pst" somebody call him across the door.

The boy wakes and quickly approaches the small door on the big metallic door "You're late Jajuka" he reproached the guy across the door.

"Sorry, they told me to clean the halls and bring some things to your new partner, " he apologizes. Twenty-seven approaches the small door to see the owner of that gentle voice.

"I hear steps in the room, " Jajuka sharpens his ears "That must be your new roommate."

"Nice to meet you, I'm Jajuka, and your name?" the dogman extends his hand. The child sees a gold fur covered hand with claws but that doesn't scare him and take the extended hand.

"How do you feel?" he asks nicely.

"Fine, " the child stomach growls and he blushes "and a little hungry" Jajuka laughs softly.

"How can you eat so much?" the boy says "you were eating until a moment ago!"

"What's your name?" the beastman asks.

"Twenty-seven, that's what his brand said, " Twenty-one answers.

"My boy, what I said many times?" the dogman pauses "Let the others speak, don't interrupt them, " he recalls to the boy, but not scolding him. The beastman gives the boy a tray with food.

"Fine, " the boy walks away but not before taking the tray with food and starts to eat a pouridge.

"Sorry for that, " Jajuka says to the child "but he's not used to talk with anyone aside from me."

"But he has been too nice with me, he seems to be a nice person, only a little rude, " the child says and smiles.

"Really?" The beastman says softly and with a surprised tone "I wish you the best of the lucks, is hard to survive here, " the beastman take back his hand from the door "Walk away a little, I want to see your face, " the child does as Jajuka ask him.

Twenty-seven sees a golden beastman with a compassionate look "Your head…what have they done to you?"

"No!" the silver-haired boy shouts "You don't want to know, Jajuka should not ask or he'll hurt you the same way as me!"

"Don't worry, for what I can see I have a little idea, but that reminds me what I had to give you, " he gives a bag to the gray-eyed child.

"What's dis?" he stares at the bag with curiosity.

"Inside of it are some bandages, a bar of soap, and other items for personal use."

"Thanks, " says the child.

"I see your bandages are dirty and need to be fixed, " the beastman turns to talk with the guard "Guard, can I enter the cell?"

"Fine, but without tricks beastman, the same for you little freaks, " the guard approaches the door and open the cell.

Jakuka enters the room and come near Twenty-seven. He calls him with the hand "Come here my boy, " the child moves toward the beastman "Please, sit down."

The gray-eyed child sits cross-legged and Jajuka places himself behind twenty-seven. He starts to unwind the bandages. Twenty-one walk towards the child with curiosity. What he saw was beyond his understanding about cruelty. But it still amazes him.  _This is what they did to him…I want to touch it…But Jajuka'll get mad at me…_

Twenty-seven's head has a scar around and feels a little fragile; as if you want it you would uncover his head and see his brain. The golden beastman starts to bandage the child wound.

During that time the gray-eyed child was staring at the marmoleum face of his roommate.  _He really looks like an angel. Ah want to touch his face even if it's only for a moment._ He rises his hand but hesitate.  _Ah think he'll get mad if I touch him._

"I'm done, " Jajuka stands up "If you need help ask my boy, without further ado, I say goodbye for now, until I shall have time, " he turns to see Twenty-one "Bye my boy, behave well with your new partner and help him in everything you can, " he waits for an answer.

"I'll help him, " he said without hesitation "When are you going to pay me a visit Jajuka?" the carmine-eyed boy sees the beastman anxiously.

"I think I can come within three days, " he answers.

"I'll wait you, "Twenty-one says "The next time I want some fruit or meat to eat, " he says playfully.

"Fine, I'll try with all my effort , they almost don't give us these foods, " he walks toward the door "Then, bye "And he leaves the room.

The silver-haired boy turns to face the child "Are you still hungry?"

"No, but Ah'm a little curious about the bag."

"Then, let me see it, " Twenty-one extends his hand and Twenty-seven gives him the bag. The boy starts to review its contents.

"Well, let's see, " the blood-eyed boy began to review the contents of the bag. Inside was a bar of soap, a change of clothes, some bandages, a toothbrush, toothpaste and toilet paper.

"From what I see this must last until the next week, " he points to the toilet paper "so you should organize carefully."

"Thanks, " the child takes the roll with both hands and squeezes it "Good timing to say it. I want to piss. Where can I do it?"

"On that corner, " the boy points "On that latrine, and now that you mention it, I'll go too."

They walk toward the spot. Twenty-one unbuttons his pants but Twenty-seven push his own down and sits.

"Are you going to take a shit? Why didn't you told me? If you had I would not have come with you!" the boy shouts, pulls his pants and leaves quickly.

"But dat is the way Ah piss, "and the child continued #More important. Why don't Ah have one like yours?"

"Mine isn't like yours obviously because all the people is different, "the boy answers the child from the opposite side of the room.

"But Ah don't have something like that, mine is flat, " the child looks between his thighs.

"I don't want to hear a description!" and he cover his ears with his hands.

"But!" the child shouts.

"Larararalalalara " the boy shout "I can't hear you!"

"Liar! You told me you'd help me " he says while wipes himself.

"Yeah, but I didn't told you I'd hear something so shameful or see between your thighs!"

"Fine!" he fits his pants "Ah'll ask Jajuka, "the child walks toward the bag and puts the toilet paper inside it, takes his blanket and covers himself with it.

"Hey wait wait wait!" the boy rushed towards the child and pulled his blanket.

"What!" he tried to pull the blanket from the boy hands and made him loose the balance then he fell to Twenty-seven's lap. Quickly he stands up.

"Idiot! Don't touch me! Your hands are dirty!" he started to clean the dust with the hand.

"Come!" he grabed the child by the forearm took his bag and dragged him to the water tap then open it, took the soap bar from the bag pulled the child hands to the water flow with the soap and started to wash it.

"What are you doing?" the child looked confused.

"When you go to the latrine you should wash your hands with the soap bar! And must do it like this, " he taught him how to wash his hands.

"Well, now I want to sleep, I'm so tired," the silver-haired boy says. He walks toward another bag and pulls out a blanket covers himself with it and lay on the ground with his back to the wall. Twenty-seven do the same but on the opposite side of the room. The hours pass and the gray-eyed child can't sleep.

The moonlight showers the alabaster skin of the red eyed boy and his hair and lashes shine like an eerie. Ah _knew it, he really looks like an angel._  The child walks in silence in the direction of Twenty-one and tries to touch his face but he sneezes and shivers. Then the child take his own blanket extends it and wraps himself with the boy. That night Twenty-one slept warm thanks the gray eyed child warmth and Twenty-seven at last fell asleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you've enjoyed the chapter. This will be a monthly release for causes out of my will, but the school is the school and I cannot ignore that fact. If you think the story is to slow, tell me please. I want to read the critiques.
> 
> And with that, I bid you farewell until next chapter.


	3. Ace de Trèfle ─ An ace up the sleeve

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter has been corrected [10/01/2013]
> 
>  **Disclaimer:** I don't own Escaflowne characters, only Number Twenty-seven.

**Ace de Trèfle**

The morning air was cold and a thin mist arose from the floor. A ray of light enters through the narrow window and little particles of dust floats in it. The silver haired boy awakes and yawns. His breath is visible and he feels a warm steam above his head he raises his sight and sees the gray eyed child sleeping with him. Then he notices that the child was the source of his warmth. He doesn't mind the small fight of the last night and huddle himself on Twenty-seven cuddle.

"Good morning, " the gray eyed child greets him then blushes and tries to pull himself away "Sorry!" Twenty-one grabs him by the hand.

"Don't go, " the boy rest his head on Twenty-seven's lap "This was the first night I slept warm since I came here, " he yawns "From now on I order you to sleep with me like this, " he blushes a little but the child can't see his face.

"Yeah, " the child answer and smiles. His smile was bright and genuine.

"Then keep on like this a little more, " they remained in each other clasp until the boy realized the hour.

"Oh crap!" he jumped quickly. The child hit the ground and waked up.

"What's happening, Twenty-one?" the child yawned, stretched his arms and legs and rubbed his eyes.

_First of all, I must hide this very well._

Twenty-one went to the door and waited to hear if a guard was near their cell and then went to the furthest corner of the room, almost near the latrine and removed a rock from the ground. He took a pointy shinny object like the ones in the child memories and then he put it under his sleeve.

_I hope I won't have to use it. Second, I must instruct him what to do so he won't be a burden to me._

"Pay attention to me, " the child was half slept and closed a little his eyed "Hey! " the boy slapped him and the child was now fully awake.

"Hey! What was dat for?" he massaged his cheek.

"I want you to hear this very carefully, do you get it?" the child nodded.

"If I take your hand, " the boy grabbed the child's hand "you get behind me; if I whilst you, " he grabbed his lips with the fingers and whistled, " run all you can in the same direction I run. Did you understand?" he waited for the answer of the child.

"Yeah, but why?"

_I don't want to scare him._

"It's the best. From today, within two days, when we will be taken to that place you'll know it just by looking. And another thing, you can talk only with the ones I tell you. Do you get it?"

_But if I don't tell him, he will be a burden._

"Yeah…"

 _He looks very strange…_ Thought the child.

"Fine, for now I'll tell you that this is kind of a test, they put you on a field with the others," then he grabbed the gray eyed child by the shoulders and looked him to the eye "I want you to hear this carefully, understood?" he waited for the answer, the child nodded and the both of them opened widely his eyes

"You must survive and don't be afraid! I'll protect you but if something happens to me I want you to run. Run all you can from the others, don't let them to catch you, " he looked very serious and desperate at the same time.

Twenty-seven breathed deeply and raised his left fist to the chest "Don't worry! Ah didn't understand very well why but Ah'll do as you told me, " the child smiled widely while looking him to the eyes.

The silver haired boy sighed, looked to the ground, closed his eyes and smiled for relief, Then raised his gaze and grinned "Fine, you'd better do that I don't want to be alone again" the boy punched him playfully on the arm "You are a good heater."

"For now we must search anything here to you, " he thought for a while and then snapped his fingers "Why haven't I thought about this?" then he grabbed the tray that Jajuka's brought.

"Let's see if we can use something of this, "he searched until he found a spoon "Well, this isn't what I expected but it can work."

Twenty-one he focused his gaze on the spoon and his eyes gleamed amber. The metal begun to stretch and flatten, he narrowed his eyes and pressed while licking his lips. The curbed edges thinned and now ended in a like knife form. The gray eyed child was amazed.

"Amazing!" then the red eyed boy showed him the now sharp spoon "How did you do dat?"

"This?" the boy tried to appear as if it were the simplest thing in the world "This is called telekinesis and is one of the easiest things I can do with it."

"Can you teach me?" the child seemed amazed at what has done his roommate.

The boy stared to the ceiling, pressed his lips, crossed his arms on his chest and then with the index finger of his left hand drew a line in his cheek.

 _The best for me is have an strong ally on my side._ Thought the boy.

 _"_ I will teach you but first you must see Lady Sora, she will say what training is the best for you. After we end the field activity they will take you to her so it's best to come out triumphant."

"Lady Sora? Who-" then the boy put his finger on the child's lips. The child blushed a little.

"Don't start with this! I'm not in the mood right now. I'll explain everything you want if you pass the test, do you get it?"

"Yeah, "the child seemed to be a little disappointed.

"For now you must hide this thing under your sleeve; if somebody comes up to you to hurt you, take out the spoon and pierce that person with all your strength it in any part of his body."

 _I wonder if he's right or left handed…_ This was an important matter to the boy.

 _"_ With which hand do you eat?"

The child started to think.  _Which hand? Hmm…_

Then he gazed to his hands trying to remember and then moved his hands simulating to eat. He moved both.

 _"_ I think I eat with both hands."

 _I should have thought it._ The boy looked exasperated.  _Then I'll try with a direct way._

 _"_ Then I want you to try to punch me on the torso with your right hand when I make the signal."

 _"_ I don't want to hit you _"_  said the child.

 _"_ I am not asking you! I am ordering you to do it! Dammit!" the boy growled.

Then he was hit in the chest by the child fist. It was strong enough to throw him almost one meter away.

 _That bloody bastard! I thought he was weak for his wound._ The boy was taken by surprise, but the next time, not.

 _"_ You idiot! I haven't made the bloodt signal!" he was coughing.

 _"_ Sorry. Are you alright? _"_  he offered him a hand to stand. The boy took the child hand; quickly pulled him to the ground and then rose from the ground.

 _"_ You are horrible! Ah just wanted to help you," the child seemed hurt.

 _"_ I don't need your help, " he breathed deeply and then posed to fight. The child rose from the ground.

 _"_ Fine, now I am ready. Try to punch me now, " he seemed more confident this time.

The gray eyed child punched him but now the silver haired boy blocked the hit with both hands and even then threw him away about half a meter.

 _Good, his left hand is very strong._ Then he came near the child again.

 _Oh no! He will be mad at me again!_  The child closed his eyes waiting for a punch.

 _"_ Now, punch me with your right hand,  _"_  the boy dared him with both hands. The child charged to him with his left fist.

_I won't be fooled again for you, now I am ready to-What?_

The boy opened widely his eyes and tried to avoid the hit but the child was faster than him and punched him in the left side of his torso. He didn't throw him now but made him very sore and without air in the lungs. The boy spited a little and then curled while pressing the affected area.

 _Oh Hell! What's wrong with him? He hits like the older guys!_ Then he rolled a little.

 _Oh no, no, no, no!_ _What have I made to him?_ The child helped him to rise from the ground and now the boy didn't resisted.

 _"_ Twenty-one! Ah don't want to hurt you, " he said almost crying "Ah am so sorry! Ah am so sorry!"

The boy started to laugh.  _I thought he was useless and only a burden._

 _"_ Don't worry,  _"_  he tried to make a friendly face  _"_ You didn't made anything wrong, indeed, you did it perfectly"

 _Now I know I can use him to my favor._ Thought the boy.

 _"_ This was the point, learn about the best form to you for defend yourself."

The boy approached to the child  _"_ Extend your left hand, " he child did as he told him.

He took the spoon and put it into the gray eyed child's sleeve, between the seams of the cloth  _"_ Change of plans, you'll be always near me on my right side, if somebody wants to hurt you or me you take this and stab him wherever you can, you got it?"

The child was happy because his roommate wanted him as assistance "Yeah! Ah'll do my best effort! Ah won't disappoint you!"

 _"_ Excellent."

 _Now I have a bodyguard… An ambidextrous bodyguard…_ The boy patted the child in the head

 _"_ I knew you would do it" _  
_

_I must sharpen him another spoon._

The boy went to the bowl of the child searching for another spoon.  _I found it, then I must concentrate…_ In less a minute the spoon was now an improvised knife.

 _"_ Take this,  _"_ the boy gave him the other spoon "Put it in the seams of your right sleeve, like I did," he pointed to his own sleeve and showed him his knife

"Now I'll show you how to take it out quickly and with nobody noticing you, " then the boy did as he said.

 _"_ Woah! "the child observed very close to his hand  _"_ Amazing! Do dat again!" the biy did it again.

 _"_ Fine, I want you to see me very well _, "_  he did it slower "Then, you do it, " he waited for the result.

The child did it easily in the slow form "Now do it faster with your right hand, do it until I cannot see you taking it out and next do the same with your left hand."

The silver haired boy practiced a little dodging and punching invisible enemies. He saw the child behavior eagerly. He did it for hours until the boy heard the guard's steps approaching to their cell. He went to where the child was practicing.

 _"_ Hey!" he whispered "Stop doing that!" he grabbed the child's hands  _"_ Give me the spoons quickly."

 _"_ Why?" the child gave him the spoons.

 _"_ If a guard comes to the cell, you hid that things here,  _"_  he took the spoons to the same corner where he hid his knife before and placed it there then went to the door.

 _"_ Come here, " he grabbed the child's hand and took him to the middle of the room.

 _"_ Here is your food,  _"_  he opened the door and threw them two pieces of bread to the floor and left the room.

The child picked up the two pieces and offered one to the boy, he took it.

 _"_ Ah have a question" said the child while eating.

 _"_ What's now?"

 _"_ Can the others do the same thing you can do?" the silver haired boy breathed deeply.

 _"_ Well, not exactly but in theory they are special on different ways although not all of them, "he continued to eat.

"I've seen one of them discovering where you are without seeing you, he has a 'Twenty-four' mark on his arm and a different one on his forehead, " the boy made the move simulating the mark "He's a good lad but doesn't have a partner only runs from the others, they are older than us and very violent but I haven't saw them do something like us."

 _"_ But if he can do dat 'seeing without seeing', why didn't you ask him for help? From what Ah saw you do, you are a good fighter but he can do something you can't."

_Good point, before he were put with me I didn't thought about making alliances with the others…_

_"_ Then, when we go to the field I'll ask him if he wants to join us, "the boy munched the bread "For now I want to see your progress."

The child was excited about show him his performance, took the spoons and hide it in the seams "Look, look!"the child showed his progress, his technique wasn't perfect but good enough for don't let the others see him do it.

_I can't believe it. He's better each time I see him! Shit! I hope he doesn't pale me in front of them! But I need him to learn very well._

_"_ Did Ah did it fine?" he seemed to be very anxious to hear the silver haired boy judge.

 _"_ Not bad, not bad " the boy nodded and seemed satisfied with the result.

 _"_ Then, can you teach me how to fight like you?"

 _"_ Well, you are ready, " then he patted the child's shoulders.

 _I'll be more kind to him if not he can stop being docile._ If his partner started to stop following orders, the boy would be in trouble.

"Then, what must Ah do?"

 _"_ The step number two,  _"_  he posed to fight  _"_ Come and fight me, punch me or kick me because this time I'm going to hit you so you must dodge me, got it?"

_He keeps asking me to do strange things…but if I do it well, he'll be happy with me…_

_"_ Yeah! "then he copied the boy's pose "When will we start?"

 _"_ Now!" he ran to the child and started to hit him very fast.

The child was dodging with all of his skill but the silver haired boy was more skilful and hit him very hard. The moment the gray eyed child thought he had dodged a punch; a kick from nowhere suddenly hit his ribs. But he endured it and grabbed his foot, then pushed him away a little.

 _"_ Not bad, not bad" then he charged again to the child  _"_ But you lack experience,  _"_  he tackled the child "and technique, "the boy imprisoned him with his legs and tried to punch him with folded hands.

The child grabbed him for the collar of the shirt and with all his might pulled the red eyed boy to his right side then pushed him pressing his body to his own and pressed the boy's neck with his right forearm.

 _He's very strong…I wasn't expecting him to do this._ This specific feature of the child might be useful to the boy.

The boy pushed up the child's forearm with his left hand and with his right punched him in the ribs. The blow took the air from the child's lungs and when he tried to caress the affected area the boy hit him with his knee on the stomach.

The child rolled from the pain and started to cough and puke the contents of his stomach then turned to see the boy with a quizzed look in his gray eyes.

 _"_ I told you, I won't go easy on you so you can do all you want with all your strength,  _"_  the boy rose from the ground  _"_ Because the others are going to try with all their might to kill you,  _"_ he offered his hand to the child to stand  _"_ When you are ready to continue will restart this."

 _And because I'm thirsty…_ The boy went to the water tap and drank from the stream.

"Do you want some?" he offered to the child. He rose from the ground with both his arms and legs, then crawled to the corner and started to drink the same way as the boy.

 _"_ Delicious,  _"_  said the child while wiping his mouth with the forearm.

 _"_ I'll wash my face, " said the boy taking out his soap bar  _"_ Meanwhile you'll see how I do it " the boy began to wash his face. When he ended wiped his face.

 _"_ Now go to wash your face like I did, use the soap bar,  _"_  he pointed to the child's bag.

 _"_ Fine,  _"_  the child took out the soap bar from his bag, went to the water tap and started to wash his face.

 _"_ Hey, you mustn't soak your bandages!" _  
_

 _Crap! If the others see that he's wounded they're going to target him…then I can put him something to hide that._  He dragged both bags sat cross legged on the ground and searched for something to use.

 _"_ Shirts, trousers, a small rag; both of us have the same-"

 _"_ Ah'm finished!" the child ran to where the boy was sited.

 _"_ I think we can use the shirt…  _"_  he turned to see the child.

"Fine, then come here, "he saw that the bandages were wet.

"Shit! You fool! I told you to not let wet your bandages! Now I must change them!"

 _"_ Don't get angry please…I didn't did it on purpose,  _"_  then he covered his head.

The boy took out some bandages from the child's bag "Come here, quickly!"

 _"_ No, you're angry at me. " the child stepped away.

_He's insupportable and a sentimentalist…then I'll talk to him softly…_

_"_ I am not angry, I'm only concerned, " he extended his hand kindly "Come here…it's for your own good."

 _Good! He is not angry…_ Then the child ran to the boy side.

 _"_ Sit here,  _"_  the boy pointed in front of him between his crossed legs and the child sat there  _"_ Now bend down your head a little,  _"_ the child did it "like that,  _"_  the boy searched for the knot that ties the bandages and unbending. He retired the bandages carefully. When he ended he saw something unexpected.

The wound was almost healed, there was only a scar with mild flesh.

 _This isn't true! This is a trick! I am seeing an illusion._ Thought the boy.

He rubbed his eyes and looked it again.  _This isn't an illusion, it's real! But…why? Yesterday I saw his head and there was a horrible cut around it. This must be another of his tricks…or he really healed very fast._ _Calm down,_ _Twenty-one,_ _calm down…This can be used on my favor, even if he gets really wounded in a few days he will be ready again to fight, which means that probably he will never be in the infirmary for days leaving me alone until he's fully healed. And if I get that Twenty-four guy to work for me I'll know where the others are hiding. And if he polishes that ability of his he can confuse them even without approaching. Therefore the chances that I get hurt will be reduced. I think my luck is improving._

Then he grinned and his eyes twinkled mischievously, resembled those of a wolf hunting its prey. Then he ended arranging the bandages.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, this is the end of the chapter, not published before because I was resting; I was also blocked for a while. Not to mention that I was watching the anime that I cannot saw when I was in school. I fact I just saw the end of one of the strangest animes (Mawaru Penguindrum) I've known, but could not expect less from the author of Revolutionary Girl Utena.
> 
> I hope you've enjoyed the chapter. If you think the story is to slow, tell me please. I want to read the critiques. Special thanks to CrimsonLaurana the first to read my fic.
> 
> I think I must explain something about the titles.
> 
> The meanings of the titles are French names for Tarot Cards of Marseille Version; thus contains not only the High Arcane, which appears on the anime version of Escaflowne, but the Gold, Swords, Lances and Wands:
> 
>  **Il Guidizio** — _Judgment_ — Radical change, resurrect to a new life. Well done job (or life). Will to start something. Good judgment and. Creative power and influence over the family and professional career. Capacity to forgive. Awake.
> 
>  **Huit de Pique** — _Eight of Swords_ — Interference. Restriction. Temporary illness or captivity. Indecision.
> 
>  **Ace de Trèfle** — _Ace of Wands_ — Creation, birth. The power or ability to begin or continue a plan or task with vigor. Capacity for entrepreneurship and determination. Start of a business, adventure, invention or something new.
> 
> I wish you a Mery Christmas and a Happy New Year~
> 
> Well, without further ado, I bid you farewell until the next chapter.


	4. Quatre de Pique – Inversé ─ Nothing is what it seems

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter has been corrected [10/01/2013]
> 
>  **Disclaimer:** I don't own Escaflowne characters, only Number Twenty-seven.

**Quatre de Pique – Inversé**

"Are you tired?" the boy smiled friendly.

"No, why?"

"I want to see how you make it in a race."

"Race?"

"Yeah, all you have to do is to run with me, " the boy grabbed the child's hand and took him near the door "From here run surrounding the room until you get again to the door, we start when I make the signal, fine? " the child nodded.

"Do the same pose as me, " the boy prepared to run "On your mark?" he waited for the child to do the pose "Ready? " the child nodded "GO!"

They started to run, the child started slow but at the middle in each corner he up the pace and almost at the end he ran as the boy and surpassed him.

"Whoa! " he was so fast that ran to the corner of the next wall hit his face and fell. He caressed his nose.

 _Fine, this is good but I cannot let him surpass me at the race test…_ That would overshadow the boy, compared with the child.

 _"_ Excellent, but I ask you a favor, when we are asked to run, you cannot go ahead of me, but you can leave the others behind, understand?"

_That's strange, but he asked me so nicely._

"Fine, " the child smiled.

"Do you want another fighting session? " he asked to the child nicely.

"Yeah! " answered the child happily "What must I do?

"Now I want to see how good you are with kicks, " he said happily "The last time I only saw how you punch. Get ready! " he posed for a fight "Use the same pose as I.

"Like this? " he tried to copy the pose but his hands were very close to his own face.

"No, " the boy took the child's hands and put them down a little "you must see you enemy and you range of vision must be unblocked, " he posed again to fight "Observe very well how I do it. Now, let's begin!"

He tried to kick the child many times, and almost all his tries chances the child dodged his hits.

 _Whoa! Another kick! Ah must move!_  The child moved but the boy connected a hit, then the child blocked with his right hand. He was threw away almost a meter and fell.

 _Ah must_   _don't forget he's very strong!_  The boy approached him quickly to hit him while he was on the ground. The child dodged while rolling and got up from the floor fast.

 _He's very fast! And has a good eye to the movements, it's almost as if he were a natural fighter! Thanks God he isn't my foe and is very controllable, if not I would have a very strong rival. But he still lacks technique._ This fact was taken into consideration by the boy.

"Stop! " the child was on blocking pose and then relaxed a little.

"I think it's better to teach you a kick properly or better said the kinds of kicks I've learned, " the child nodded "Listen and observe carefully kicks aren't basic as punches if you connect a good kick on the right place you can defeat your enemy with only one hit, " he did a side kick

 _I must tell him to take care of his limbs because I don't know if he can make grow out new ones or even attach again his old ones or he can only heal superficial wounds._ The boy couldn't allow him to get hurt even if the child was a fast healer.

"But remember that you are barefooted and your opponent can even slice one of your limbs, " the boy moved his right hand emulating to cut his left hand "Understood?

The child wasn't scared but much focused on the ruby eyed boy's movements "I'll do it."

"Fine, then, " the boy moved his hands indicating him to rise from the ground "see my leg from its base to the end of my toes, " then he moved his right leg a little to his right side, flexed his knee and hit the child's left side with the tip of his toes, the strike was aiming under his ribs.

"If you hit hard in this way you can push out the air of your enemy's lunges, bend down a little, " he took the child by the shoulders and made him flex a little and be on a semi turned position "But he is going to be breathless so his hands are going to caress his ribs, " he moved the child's hands and put it under touching his ribcage

"If your enemy is like this then you can do this " he took the child by the head and gave him a simulated hit with his knee "He'll bleed, his teeth will fly out of his mouth even or bite his tongue, he'll feel a terrible pain and may fall to the ground."

The boy grabbed the child by the shoulders and back and made him bend completely con the ground "So, you can kick him quite a lot of times over his head, on and under his ribcage until he passes out " he emulated to do the moves he said then gave him his hand to get up "but the most viable way is to stab him several times."

"But that is unfair, " said the child.

"Why? " asked the boy.

"Because he can't defend against you or me, " the boy breathed deeply and sighed.

"This is the law of the jungle, eat or be eaten, kill or be killed, you must choose one of those, " he said with an exasperated tone.

"How do you think that I am still alive? They are older, bigger and stronger than us, from my point of view they are the unfair ones " he said angry.

"But if you want to play fair then can I keep your things? " the tone of his voice was soft and had a hint of mockery "Sometimes I'm very cold at night so I may use your blanket "

"When they kill you! " he shouted to the child face and looked very angry.

The child sat down flexing his knees and keeping his feet parallels to the ground and then he covered his head with his arms " Fine! Ah'll do as you said but don't be angry at me!

"Then do as I'll tell you to do, so you can survive, agreed? " he bent down to see the child's face.

"Yeah! " the child was happy again.

 _He's like a pup! Why of all the ambidextrous, fast healers and tricky children in this world they assigned me this airheaded crybaby?_ The boy sighed.  _Then I'll make him a strong person so he can help me to get out this place._

"Fine, now I'll tell you how to defend against the first kick that push out the air from your lungs, " he posed to fight " try to do the same kick but without strength, " the child did as the boy told him with his left leg.

"To evade the hit, you do this, " the boy grabbed the child's leg with his forearm turned ninety degrees "but he can grab you by the head or the hair if you let him, so immediately after this move you must throw yourself behind, " he pulled the child's foot with his free hand "and then try to land above his leg under his knee with all your strength and try to break his ankle like this " he took the child's foot and turned it to the left "so now his leg is broken and you can hit him while he convulses of pain.

They practiced kicks and punches and the ways to evade them or even counterattack them for hours until the moon appeared in the sky and now were very tired. Then the boy noted something strange in the child's movements, he reacted slower every time he was attacked from his left side and even when he tried to attack using his left hand or leg; in fact the child didn't dodged almost any attack to his left side but he blocked it.  _Can this be his blind_  spot?

"Stop! " the child stopped a punch "I have an idea " he closed his eyes.

 _My blind spot is the right side so he would cover me there while I cover his left side._ Every trait is of good use.

"I could see that you are weak at your left side, this can be an inconvenient so you must pay attention when somebody tries to hit you there and another thing "

 _I can't say him about my weakness. You never know when somebody would become a foe._ The information inside the lab was very precious, and there was always the possibility of his cell mate making an alliance with another guys.

 _"_ If I cover your left side, you must cover my right side, even when they say us to run or when we leave this room and walk through the corridor, deal?

"Deal, " the child stood straight.

 _I haven't noted that he is taller than me._ The child supassed the boy for almost three inches; he saw that the child was sweating as himself.

_Shit! I didn't think about this inconvenient, now the both of us are tired this is very bad…If the guards see us like this we'll be an easy prey…_

"Ah'm hungry, " the child turned to see his partner.

"I don't have more food, " the boy breathed quickly "but if they like your performance on the field they will increase your rations, " the boy wiped the sweat from his own face with the shirt. Then he went to the child bag and took out a rag.

"Is it true? " then he drooled a little.

"Come here, " he gave to the child the rag "You are very dirty again, go to the water tap and wash your face, and then dry it with the rag, but don't let the bandages wet.

"Yeah, " he took the rag and went to the water tap.

 _I hope the show of the previous night made them fear to come near us but if they want revenge for his dead companion this would be very dangerous, now that I think it, yesterday they didn't returned to fight or something like that indeed they are very quiet right now. I don't like this feeling, something bad is going to happen but, when?_ The boy chewed his left thumb.

 _They know they can't touch me or I'll bite them smash them on a wall or worse, Lord Dune will be angry at them and may kill them, but I don't know if Twenty-seven is safe like me, they can try to do something to him. For now we must sleep so tomorrow we'll be ready for everything but this is still bothering me, then we must mount guard._ The boy looked to the child while he was cleaning his face then he did the same.

"Ah'm sleepy, " the child yawned and stretched his arms and legs.

"So I am, are you very tired or can you still be awake some hours more?"

"Why do you ask dat? " said the gray eyed child with a quizzed tone of voice.

"Just answer the bloody question"

 _Why must he answer everything I ask him with another question?_ That habit of the child was a nuinsance to the boy.

"Now that Ah think about it yesterday Ah couldn't sleep for hours, until Ah went next to you. "

"Perfect! I was thinking of mounting guard, the guards were very quiet all the day."

"Now that you tell it, it is true, Ah haven't heard any sound from outside since the last guard gave us food. Ah have a bad feeling in the gut."

"I think you must sleep before me, " the boy pulled out his blanket from the bag "because I fall sleep easily, " he took out the child's blanket too and covered himself with both clothes.

"Come here, " he was near a wall and called the gray eyed child with his both hands "Sit next to me so I can sleep warm, don't fall asleep and when you feel you can't be awake more time, awake me so I can mount guard until morning, can you do this? " the child walked to the boy's side and sat there.

"Yeah! " the boy covered both with the mantles and rested his head on the child's lap.

"If you hear anything weird wake me, " the hours passed and the only thing the child heard was the drops of water falling from the water tap. The hours passed and nothing new happened.

The child started to caress the boy's hair and hide a tuft of his silver strands behind his ear.  _It's vary silky._ The child grabbed another tuft and pulled it softly a little so the crimson eyed boy didn't wake up, he bent down and dragged the hair near his nose.

 _Ah like how he smells._ The child chuckled softly and blushed. He combed Twenty-one's hair with his fingers until undo every hair knot. Then he saw the cloth around the boy's head. He looked sad. The hours passed and he started to doze so wiggled the boy.

"Twenty-one, Ah am feeling tired, " the boy waked and yawned.

"Then it's my turn, " he sat and pointed to his lap "You can rest your head here, " he yawned again. The gray eyed child laid his head and fell asleep in minutes.

The hours passed, from time to time a guard looked to their cell and the boy pretended to be asleep, but the man didn't try to enter. The floor was covered by a cold mist and the boy kept gazing to the door but turned occasionally to the window to calculate the time.

 _The moon is still in the sky and shines very much so there is plenty of time until the sunrise, and I am starting to bore to death._  Then he saw a fleck under the child's left eye and another near his left nostril.

 _I haven't noted this before._ Then he saw another one under the child's mouth.

 _I wonder if he has another one._  The boy saw another on the child's jaw line near the ear and another one in his earlobe.

 _Why does he have these spots and I don't have any?_ Then he saw another three in the child's neck.

The boy searched bent up the left sleeve on the child's shirt and searched for more flecks; the child didn't waked but the boy saw one below his elbow on his forearm.

 _Could that marks be flaws or something like that?_ He searched more on the child's hands but couldn't found more, then he started to observe his own arms and hands, he didn't found any spot.  _Is this good or bad? I'll ask Jajuka later._

The boy saw that the child was chewing his right thumb and sometimes heard him gritting his teeth.  _He is surely eating in his dreams, being an airhead may be a blessing sometimes._

The moonlight started to fade and was replaced by the sunlight.  _I'll leave him sleep more._ The boy had sore and dry eyes.  _This didn't worked, then this night I will take the first guard to sleep more._ In less than an hour the gray eyed child started to awake.

"Good morning, " the child yawned and rubbed his eyes "Why are your eyes so red? " he pointed to the boy's eyes.

"I am not accustomed to sleep few hours, " the boy rubbed his eyes.

"So this night I will take the first guard and you will mount the next one. For now I am going to sleep, so don't disturb me, go and practice the same as yesterday but in silence, " the child rose from the ground and stretched his arms and legs.

"But what do Ah do when a guard comes? " asked the child.

"Pay attention to the alley and if you hear something approaching, come and wake me, understood? " the boy covered himself with the blankets.

"Yeah! " then he started to practice some kicks and punches.

The hours passed and the sun was starting to be orangish when the child heard somebody approaching to their cell. He went to where the silver haired boy was sleeping.

"Twenty-one, Twenty-one! " he talked to his ear "Wake up! " the boy opened his eyes, stretched his arms and legs.

"What do you want? " the boy yawned.

"Somebody is going to pass near here " the child pointed to the sound's direction.

"Then bring me a bag, " the child started to search for the bags. The boy extended the mantles and bent them. The child gave him a bag and put the mantles inside.

"Now come here, " they went to the middle of the room "Be straight and don't look them to the eyes."

"Your food, " they heard a guard saying this to somebody next to their cell; he passed near their room and opened the door.

"Here is your food, lab rats! " the guard threw them two white spheres and left. Behind him was a youngster with pinkish wavy hair, ashen skin and dark green soulless eyes, he looked dirty and desperate.

The child approached and picked the spheres, then smelled them.  _It stinks._

"What is it? " certainly the child didn't knew what this object was.

"Those are eggs and from what I can see, they are boiled, come and see how I peel it, " he took one of the eggs, walked to the water tap and hit the eggshell with the tap. The cover cracks a little and then the boy starts to pull the fragments until there is no piece of the eggshell.

The child did the same and felt how it was spongy now "Now just eat it, " the boy opened his mouth to bite the egg but stopped.

The child was just taking the egg to his mouth when the boy stopped his arm "Wait a minute, " then he smelled the egg.

 _I knew it, they rarely give us anything beside bread and pouridge, this smell._ The boy wrinkled his nose a little to sniff better.

"This smells like, " he had the name on the tongue.

 _Tranquilizers!_ They had tried to drug the boy from the first day he arrived to the lab two years ago.

 _"_ Give me you egg,  _"_  the child did as the boy told him, then he took the eggs walked to the latrine and threw them inside it.

The gray eyed child rose from the ground quickly and ran to the latrine, he took a peek inside and the eggs were now gone, he looked sad and then turned to see his companion with teary eyes  _"_ Why did you do dat?

 _"_ I had to; they put tranquilizers in the eggs."

 _This means they are planning something against us._ They had to be more careful from now on.

 _"_ But now what are we going to eat?  _"_  the child blinked  _"_ And what is a tranquilizer anyway?

 _"_ I am starting to feel tired of this, you know?  _"_  the boy closed his eyes and rubbed the bridge of his nose.

 _"_ A tranquilizer is something to make you fall asleep  _"_  then he saw another guard passing near on the same direction of the last. The boy heard a something near the window. There were some winged creatures.

 _How lucky!_ When this animals were near the boy's range of vision his eyes glowed amber, extended his hands and emulated to catch them. After this, some birds escaped flying but four were trapped by the boy's invisible grip.

 _"_ Twenty-seven, come here,  _"_  the child was drinking from the water tap then saw the animals.

 _"_ What are dose?  _"_  he approached to see the little birds full of curiosity.

 _"_ They are pigeons, and are going to be our meal  _"_  the child nodded  _"_ But first we need to kill them and pluck his feathers.

 _"_ Kill them,  _"_  the child was nervous.

 _"_ Don't be a baby!  _"_  the birds were revolving in their invisible jail  _"_ And now bring the bag Jajuka gave us and throw the content on the floor  _"_  the child ran for the bag  _"_ Now open it  _"_  he did as the boy told him.

The boy moved his hands emulating to put the pigeons inside the bag but kept one in the invisible grip  _"_ Now close it tying the cord  _"_  the child tied the rope  _"_ Don't let them escape  _"_  the child carried the bag and close the opening strongly.

The red eyed boy took the bird by its neck and maintained his wings pressed against its body without using his hands. Then beheaded it pulling apart the two parts to contrary directions. The boy's red orbs were open wide and he has a vicious grin over his face. The child yelped and covered his mouth with one hand but didn't let escape the bag from his grip. Blood was pouring out from the animal's severed parts.

The child was amazed at the sight of the ruby colored fluid.  _Beautiful._

The boy put the parts on the floor  _"_ Now give me the bag,  _"_  he extended his hand covered by the red liquid.

The child was observing straight at the boy's hand  _"_ Quickly! I don't have all the day!  _"_  he took the bag from the child's grip  _"_ If you want a well done job do it yourself… _"_  he muttered.

The boy took a pigeon from the bag and closed it tightly then with his raw hands broke his neck  _"_  Now do the same to the third one  _"_  he pointed to the bag on the ground.

 _I think he is scared for the blood, but this is going to make him stronger._ Making the child kill an animal was the first step to get him used to seeing death.

 _"_ Tell me, if Ah took his head from his body, the red liquid is going to come out?  _"_ asked shyly the child.

 _"_ Of course, but don't let that frighten you-  _"_

 _"_ Ah'll do it  _"_  said the child confidently, he liked that color.

 _I wasn't expecting him to be happy of this._ The boy had a quizzical look in his eyes.

 _"_ Fine, but be careful and don't let it go from your grip  _"_  he took the bag and walked towards the child, then started to untie the cordon of the bag  _"_ Get ready, push your hands on the bag, seize his wings with both hands and took out it from the bag.

The child put his hands on the bag and encircled the bird's wings with his hands. He took out the animal and observed how it was fighting against his grip. The child opened widely his gray orbs and pressed his lips together forming a straight line. Then cracked the pigeon's throat and tore apart the small bulb from its body. He dropped the pieces to the ground and observed how his hands were covered by the shinny juice.

The boy's heart was beating very fast in his chest and felt goose bumps in his skin.  _I don't know why but this make my blood boil,_  he could feel the blood hammering his tympanums.

 _I think I am starting to enjoy his company._ Then he took the last bird and cracked its neck.

The boy took the pigeons and started to pluck their feathers and ordered the child to do the same. They kept like that for half an hour and the boy sliced the bird's meat skillfully in narrow slices. He washed the meat and put it inside the bag. Inside put the bones and organs too.

 _"_ We are going to eat one slice three times at day, in any case, we should capture all the pigeons come near here to have a reserve, now let's eat  _"_  he gave one slice of meat to the child and he took it  _"_ It is going to be stretchy and maybe is going to be difficult for you to chew it but the trick is to tore one part with your fangs and munch it with your molars.

The child started eating the pigeon's meat and it tasted kind of familiar to him but before he could remember when or where did he eat something like that, instead of images to his mind came sounds of people talking random unrecognizable things and some strange sounds of something being drummed rhythmically. Then the boy dragged him by the hand to the water tap.

 _"_ Wash your hands and teeth,  _"_  the boy guarded the meat in the compartment and took out from his bag some items.

 _"_ Go to your bag and grab your toothbrush and toothpaste,  _"_  the child looked confused  _"_ In your bag there are the same objects I'm holding, this is the toothbrush  _"_  he pointed to the white stick  _"_ and this is the toothpaste  _"_  he pointed to the gray tube. The child observed them and took out his own items; they were almost identical as the boy's items which were used.

 _"_ Now do as I do  _"_  the boy walked to the water tap, unclosed the toothpaste and spread the paste over the brush  _"_ Now you wet them  _"_  he opened the tap and dampened the brush  _"_ Look carefully, you stick it in your mouth and scratch your teeth with the brush like this  _"_  he showed to the child the way to wash his teeth and he did it as him.

 _"_ Now you must remove the spume from your mouth drinking water but not gulping it, you maintain the water there and move it around your mouth  _"_  the boy showed him the process, the first time the child did it, he gulped the water, but at the end he did it fine.

 _"_ Twenty-seven, are you tired?  _"_  the child turned to see the boy.

 _"_ A little, _"_  the child chewed his thumb.

 _"_ I think the better for us is to sit or to sleep until Jajuka come here, and save energy for tomorrow  _"_

 _Even thought I don't know if he will come today._ Sometimes Jajuka, being a slave, worked for days with no rest.

 _"_ Oh, and maintain hydrated,  _"_  then he offered his hand to the child who took it and they walked to the blankets then the boy covered himself with the mantles while sitting, he extended his arms.

The child walked to where the boy was and sat between the boy's legs and he hugged him while covering him with the mantles. Twenty-seven was smiling but the ruby eyed boy couldn't see him.

 _"_ Today I'll take the first turn of the guard  _"_  the boy rested his chin on the child's head.

 _"_ Fine,  _"_  the child fell asleep quickly.

The hours passed without changes. Every time a guard walked near their cell he faked to be sleeping.

 _I hope he did the same when guards come near here last night, if not they may start to suspect about our behavior._ Dissimulating, was an important ability in this place.

The silver haired boy started to doze and almost fell asleep if not because the child breathed deeply. Then he noted a warm liquid falling to his arm.

 _What is this?_ The boy moved his arm to see clearly what was there, he saw saliva.

 _"_ Shit! You bastard! You drooled all over my arm!  _"_  He pushed the child to the ground but he didn't waked. The shocked the sleeping child by the shoulders strongly but it didn't work.

 _Dammit! He is slept as a tree!_ He shouted to the child in the ear.

 _"_ Goddammit Twenty-seven! Wake up right now or I'll slap you!  _"_  the gray eyed child jumped fast and turned to see the boy. His right eye was closed and the left half closed.

 _"_ Is it time?  _"_  he swallowed his own saliva and wiped it with his sleeve.

 _"_ Of curse is it time you retard! And from now on you'll sleep behind me so you'll never drool over me again  _"_  the child was still confused half slept and was balancing.

 _"_ Hey!  _"_  the boy snapped his fingers in front of the child's eyes  _"_ You must be ready for the guard because I'm falling asleep,  _"_  he was starting to see woozy.

The gray eyed child shakes his head and arches his back so he was seeing the door head downs then he stretched his arms and returned to the sitting position as before quickly  _"_ Ah am ready now, Twenty-one.,

 _"_ Fine, now you sit facing the door and pay attention carefully because in some hours they are going to take us to the field, when the sun rises you must wake me and one last thing, if somebody passes near here you must fake be sleeping, understood?  _"_  while the boy was saying this he started to accommodate behind the child's back and sat there, back to back, covering both with the mantles.

The child sat cross-legged and rested his chin on his palm.  _Why is he making a fuss over such a small incident? Ah don't understand him at all!_ The child chewed his left pinky finger.

 _Ah am thirsty…_ He turned to see the water tap.  _If Ah get up Twenty-one might fall and is going to be angry at me._ He rotated his torso while maintaining his left arm firm to not let the blood eyed boy fall then rotated his arm and put him softly on the floor. The boy didn't waked so the child went to drink water quickly.

He returned to the boy's side and sat there cross-legged covering with a mantle then he crossed his arms. He started to pat his fingers like before but on his forearms and both his hands; following the leak's rhythm. He started to flex his toes when the drops fell to the ground. This maintained his mind busy for almost an hour and when a guard walked near their cell he only had to fake to be asleep.

Then he heard somebody approaching from his left to the window. He took the silver haired boy by the shoulders and shocked him.

 _"_ Wake up!  _"_  he awaked slowly.

 _"_ What do you want  _"_  the boy blabbed and rubbed his eyes.

 _"_ Somebody is coming near the window  _"_  the boy was fully awaked.

 _"_ Fake to be asleep now!  _"_  the child covered both with the blankets and laid near the boy.

The boy saw the feet of the stranger, heard him flex his knees and put a bag on the ground.

"Pst pst" the boy couldn't see the stranger's face bur recognized the voice quickly and jumped of joy. There was a white light coming from the window.

 _"_ Jajuka!  _"_  he shouted and the gray eyed child stopped to fake to be sleeping.

 _"_ Shh,  _"_  then the boy closed his mouth with the hands, waited a moment to see if somebody heard him shout.

 _"_ How are you?  _"_  whispered the beastman.

 _"_ How do you think we are? They tried to give us drugs in the food today so we ate raw pigeons!  _"_  he said this last like spiting.

 _"_ Why haven't you come before?  _"_  he crossed his arms and gazed angry to the ground.

 _"_ Sorry, I was busy and they were watching me all the time,  _"_  he waited a moment  _"_ I am here now only because the guards of our building are playing cards,  _"_  he opened the bag

 _"_ Now, as you asked me before, I brought you this,  _"_ he took out a fruit and a sausage then returned them to the bag  _"_ Share them with your friend  _"_  he lowered until be on the ground and gave the bag to the boy who had to jump to took it. The child looked the bag eagerly.

 _"_ And one more thing, they ordered us to remodel the field, I don't know what the others are doing but my group is digging holes in the forest, so maybe the tests are going to last almost a month or less and take this  _"_  he gave to the boy a sheet.

 _"_ Here are marked the holes we are making, I can't bring you information about the other areas so be extremely care-  _"_  he shut up quickly.

 _"_ I hear them come near here, hide that bag for now and eat when they can't see you, divide it wisely so it would last you for days and memorize the draw,  _"_  he breathed deeply.

 _"_ I wish both of you the best of the lucks,  _"_  then they heard him rush to the right.

 _"_ See you later…  _"_  whispered sadly the boy and sat on the ground.

 _"_ Hey hey, what did he gave you in dat bag?  _"_  the child inspected the bag from the outside and started to smell it.

 _"_ He brought us food,  _"_  he opened the bag.

 _"_ Give me one of the spoons I've sharpened,  _"_  the child ran to the corner near the latrine, removed a rock and took out one spoon closed the hideout and walked to the boy.

The boy looked at the window and saw that the moonlight was gone and a white light was entering the room. He took out a reddish almost brown tube and cut it in many slices, then gave one to the child who looked at it curious and put the remnants in the bag.

 _"_ What is dis?  _"_  the boy started to eat the sausage.

 _"_ Is a sausage, don't tell me, you haven't eat one of this, right?  _"_  he said this while munching his food.

 _"_ It has a good taste and bring me to mind the taste of the meat my parents gave me,  _"_  he gulped.

 _"_ Eat it quickly before the guards come here,  _"_  the child took the sausage and started to eat it.

It tasted salty.  _This is delicious! Better than bread, Ah wish we could eat this everyday._ He finished the sausage.

The boy took out the bag a round orangish object with reddish parts, it smelled kind of sweet. Then he proceeded to cut it in many parts with the spoon, it dripped a sticky liquid, he gave the object to the gray eyed child and put the remnants in the bag.

 _"_ And what is dis?  _"_  the boy was licking his fingers.

 _"_ This is a peach, " he bitted the fruit  _"_ it make your fingers sticky so you must wash wherever his juice fall."

Twenty-seven smelled the round half and licked the liquid. He felt the sweetness invade his tongue and bitted the object, it was soft and creamy. The child shrieked and smiled while cupping his cheek.

 _What's up with that goofy expression of his? It's like if he were retard._  The boy continued to eat the fruit.

The child's expression changed and now he was serious.  _I think I've tasted this before…_ He ate the fruit slowly and absentmindedly.

XXX Flashback XXX

Twenty-seven is in a room that smells like dust and humidity. He is sat on a wet couch watching the ceiling then he sees a bookshelf and walks towards it. He sees some strange boxlike things. One is small, narrow and blue with golden lines; the next one is a little bigger than the last and is dark green with orange marks. He took the green boxlike thing but somebody was coming to the room and he leaves it there.

A person entered the room; he was a tanned teenager with brown shoulder-length wavy hair and gray droopy eyes, he smiled friendly.

 _"_ Hi!  _"_  the teenager waved a hand and was carrying a bag and a candle.

 _"_ Do you want me to read you another story?  _"_ he took out from behind him a red boxlike thing with silver symbols. It was wider than the others but big as the green one.

The child rushes to the teenager and speak to him  _"_ Of course-  _"_  he said something more but all he could hear was a strange sharp sound  _"_ Ah thought you weren't coming today  _"_  the teenager closed the door behind him.

 _"_ When Ah promise something Ah keep it for sure  _"_  the tanned teenager said that while putting his hair behind his left ear.

 _"_ Sorry,  _"_  said the child while staring at his feet which were bare. The brown haired teenager sat on a couch and opened the red box.

 _"_ What page we were last time? Oh Ah almost forgot it  _"_  then he took out two orangish spheres with reddish spots. He offered one to the child  _"_ Eat it  _"_  and he took it.

 _"_ What is dis?  _"_  the sphere was smooth and soft.

 _"_ Dat is a peach  _"_  the child eat it.

XXX Flashback XXX

 _"_ Hey!  _"_  the boy waved his hand in front of the child's face and he blinked  _"_ Haven't you heard me? Finish eating quickly and wash your hands and mouth! I think the sun will rise soon  _"_ the child rushed to eat the fruit then went to the water tap and washed himself.

 _What was that? He changed his mood in a very strange way._ The boy took a spoon and put it in a seam. Took the other spoons and walked towards the child.

 _Who was dat guy? And why am Ah again in that room?_ The child wiped his hands on his shirt.

 _"_ Take this,  _"_  the boy gave him the improvised weapons.

 _"_ Hide them like before  _"_  the child took the spoons and hided them quickly.

And so the days passed like water through the hands, each one like the other before. They practiced for hours and while eating a slice of the sausage of one of the peach they memorized the draw that Jajuka gave them and mounted guards each night. The boy did another compartment near the water tap to hide the food there. After three days they were out of food and started to catch again, for the child content, birds. Each day the boy explained to the child how the field was.

His eyes glowed amber and with his finger he carved a straight line on the inner part of the square covering their meal's compartment and marked a door and a cross.

 _"_ We are going to get to the field from here and the first area is the sand zone,  _"_ then two parallel lines with doors, those lines formed two squares and between them was a rectangle with a square inside it

 _"_ That area is surrounded by a grid and is the one to one fight zone,  _"_  he pointed to the area behind the grill and to the rectangle surrounding the square  _"_ They observe you from that tower,  _"_  he pointed to the square of the center.

 _"_ If you get hurt badly they took you to the infirmary,  _"_  he marked an X to the left square.

 _"_ We are from block 3B so we use that door, the guys from 3A block use that door,  _"_  he pointed to the left square

 _"_ Further to the right there is a pond  _"_  in front of the right square he draw an irregular figure.

At the left of it and behind the central square, he draw another irregular shape; at the left of it and next to the right square he draw another shape.

 _"_ To the left,  _"_  he pointed to the figure of the left  _"_ there is a swamp and exactly across the fight area there is a forest _."_

Then he draw an irregular curve surrounding these shapes, it started from the end of the right square to the end of the left square

 _"_ All the field has a wall to prevent us escaping."

 _"_ A sorcerer will come out from the tower and will order us what to do, " he marked the square inside the rectangle. He described each rock and hide place of each area.

The hours passed and the outside lights were grayish white. The child went to use the latrine, like always he sat there.

 _"_ Hey Twenty-seven, there is something is annoying me for days  _"_ the child was peeing and the boy was sitting on the floor leaning on a wall and seeing to the ceiling.

 _"_ What is it?  _"_  the child was wiping now.

 _"_ Why do you use the latrine like that?

 _"_ How 'like dat'?  _"_  the child pulled up his pants.

 _"_ You know, you sat there always even for peeing-  _"_  then they heard somebody hitting the doors' bars.

 _"_ Come on maggots! It's time for your cleaning _"_  said a guard and kept walking to another place of the corridor.

 _Shit! I've forgotten this._ The boy walked to his bag and took out the rag, a change of clothes and the soap.

 _"_ Twenty-seven, take the same items from your bag  _"_  the child started to arrange his items  _"_  and put your spoons in the hideout, they are going to register us  _"_  the child hided the spoons and the boy did the same.

 _"_ They are going to take us to the bath's area; there we are going to take a shower "

 _"_ What is a- " the boy made a 'sht' sound.

 _"_ Don't tell me,you don't know what a shower is,  _"_ the boy says with a sarcastic tone  _"_ Don't worry I'll explain you when we arrive." _  
_

 _"_ After that they are going to take us to the infirmary so be obedient with them and the nurses will treat you nicely, and something else, they are going to give us to eat some items. These are pills, and are like small pebbles,  _"_  the boy put his thumb and index finger almost together to show him the size of the pills.

 _"_ The best is to not shallow it and hide the pills in your mouth, but sometimes they check inside your mouth, when they do it, just shallow the pill,  _"_  they sat on the ground and after some minutes the guard opened the door.

The boy took the gray eyed child by the hand  _"_ Follow me,  _"_  the child walked at the right side of the boy and they left the cell. The guard guided them to their right side and they followed him.

The corridor was narrow and with many doors like the one of their cell. It was illuminated for gas lamps with blue fire. They walked through the way with a guard at the front of the line and each time they were near a door the guard opened it and one or two boys joined the lines.

When the others saw the child they started to murmur  _"_ Have you seen it?  _"_  says one to another  _"_ His head is all bandaged,  _"_ but the child didn't noticed it.

 _This is bad, now they are going to target him._ This would be a problem for both of them.

When they reached the fourth cell came out a blond lad, he had emerald eyes and a strange red mark on his forehead and seems to have almost the same age that the ruby eyed boy. He doesn't seem to be as dangerous as the others, who were older and bigger than them.

 _"_ Do you see that lad?  _"_  he whispered and pointed to the last boy and the child nodded.

 _"_ He is Twenty-four,  _"_  the lad walked at normal speed trying always to evade visual contact.

 _"_ Observe him carefully and don't forget his face,  _"_  the end of the corridor wasn't far. There the child saw two doors, one at his left and another at his right.

There a guard opened the left door with his keys and the other guard guided them there. They entered another corridor and at its end the guide opened another door.

 _"_ Come on!  _"_  Twenty-one pulls Twenty-seven's hand and dash to the exit.

The room was three times bigger than their cell. The walls were cream colored and sprayed by lamps with the same blue light of the alleyway. Near the door was a small table with towels and a basket next to it. At each side of the room were almost ten cubicles with doors, if a person were inside you can see its feet and a little under its knees. The gray eyed child was amazed.

 _"_ Is this a shower?  _"_  the child asked. The boy took two towels and gave one to the child.

 _"_ Well, here you take a shower; it's named 'the showers',  _"_  the boy guides the child to one booth and opens the door which has four hooks on a line. The others enter the room and start to prepare for shower.

The boy remembered one of Jajuka's advices:  _Never take off your cloths in front of the others, especially of the guards, only take off your shirt to not seem suspicious._

 _"_ Take out your shirt and put it inside the basket  _"_  the child and the boy threw their shirts inside the container.

The boy walked to the table and started to undo the bandage of his wound. The skin was starting to heal over the fabric and when he removed it, the cloth was pulled together with some of his scabs. He repressed a growl clenching his teeth.

 _"_ Hey guard,  _"_  he walked towards the guide  _"_ He doesn't know how to bath I am going to tell him how to do it."

The guide thought for a moment  _"_ Fine but you have only three minutes to do it and come back at time."

 _"_ Understood,  _"_  the boy ran to the compartment and closed the door behind him.

 _"_ Enter,  _"_  Twenty-one leads him to go inside  _"_ Give me your change of clothes, the soap bar, the rag and the towel,  _"_  he extends his hand to the child and he gives him the items.

The boy takes the objects and hangs the towel on one hook, the shirt and pants on the other; the rag on the water knob and put the soap on a small shelf near the knob.

 _"_ You must put the items always on the same formation,  _"_ the child nodded in confirmation.

 _"_ Now what must Ah do?  _"_  asked the child.

 _"_ First, sit on the ground while I undo your bandages  _"_  the gray eyed child sat while the boy untied the bandages and then he put them in the clean clothes' hook.

The boy turns two knobs and the water started to flow, he tested the heat  _"_ Now take the rag and the soap, put them under the water flow and rub them together until spume appear.

 _"_ Like when Ah wash my hands?"

 _"_ Yes, like that. Then you put the soap on the shelf and massage your body firmly under the water flow, wash carefully between your legs and your ass to clean all the dirt over your skin, _"_  the child nodded.

 _"_ You must wash off all the spume. When you'll finish the task you must dry your body with the towel and put your cloths again. You must call me when that happens and then I am going to enter to rearrange your bandages,  _"_  the child nodded.

 _"_ Are you sure you can do it alone?"

 _"_ Yeah, it sounds simple; it's just washing your body with a rag. It's easy  _"_ answered the child.

 _"_ Remember to call me when you are finished  _"_  the boy got out the cubicle and entered another next to the child's.

Inside the booth was steamy for the hot water vapor of the others cubicles. Both children started to bath. When they finished the others have already ended only minutes before and were leaving the room. The fog started to disperse and the children were drying their bodies.

 _"_ Ah am finished  _"_  shouted the child. The boy went to talk to the guard.

 _"_ I need his bandages _."_

 _"_ Fine, but do it quick! The sorcerer are going to be mad if you are late,  _"_  said the guard with a wicked smirk.

 _"_ Thanks!  _"_  the boy ran to the locker and took out some bandages then ran to the booth and entered quickly. He closed the door very fast behind himself.

 _"_ Turn to see the knobs and sit squatting  _"_  the child sat like that and the boy to bandage his head.

 _"_ Now you must put on the clean clothes,  _"_  when the silver haired boy gave to the child his clothes for a second put his glance between Twenty-seven's thighs. To his dismay there wasn't a dick but something very different.

 _"_ You, what the hell are you?  _"_  the red eyed boy was pale but covered his own mouth with both hands to not let the others hear him.

 _I knew he was strange! But now this!_ The silver haired boy knew there were some differences to separate between men and women. One of the most important characteristics for the men were their dicks, and for the women, the lack of it.

 _"_ What's happening to you?-  _"_  the child tried to go near the boy and touch his shoulder but he stepped aside.

 _"_ I can't believe it  _"_  the boy whispered  _"_ You are a girl,  _"_  he said with a dry voice.

 _"_ A girl, what is dat?  _"_  asked the child dumbfounded.

 _"_ Put on your clothes and later I'll explain it to you  _"_  the gray eyed child started to dress and took her items.

 _Don't make a fuss over this…_ The boy had to think quickly.

 _"_ What's taking you so much time? You freak!  _"_  a guard approaches their compartment.

The boy's expression was of concern.  _What must I do? They are going to notice that he-she is a girl! Then they are going to take her to the girl's area and I'll be on my own again._ He finished the bandaging.

 _"_ Stand up  _"_  he clapped two consecutive times and the child rose from the ground.

 _"_ Now follow me, they are going to take us to the infirmary  _"_  they exited the booth and joined with the others at the line. The guard walked at the front and they followed him. They walked returning to the aisle of their cells but instead of going there walked straight ahead and opened the door that before was at the right.

On the way there the silver haired boy couldn't stop to think about the girl's situation but tried to act like always.

 _I'm pretty sure the sorcerer will discover his now healed wound; I hope they don't take him away because that would be a disadvantage to me again._ The simple thought of those men discovering her being a girl made his stomach flip inside him and pale at the same time. He feared they would do herthe same as that woman the last year.

XXX Flashback XXX

The boy was returning to his cell after a test on the field when he saw a woman entering the building. She was young and had dark skin; her hair was black and her eyes brown. For the expression on her face, she was nervous and scared at the same time. The guards took her to the second floor, where they had their chambers.

That night, her screams of pain were heard across the whole building and froze his blood. The boy covered his ears with desperation and couldn't sleep until the morning.

The next day Jajuka came to visit him. He brought him some fruits.

 _"_ Hey, Jajuka, yesterday I saw a woman entering the guards' chambers  _"_  the boy was eating  _"_ and after that she kept screaming there all the night  _"_  the beastman had a frightened look.

 _"_ What did they did her there?  _"_  the golden beast breathed deeply.

 _"_ In this place they treat the woman like garbage, sometimes they took one or more to their chambers and do her things which your pure ears aren't ready to hear. Be thankful of being a boy and for Lord Dune to ordered them to not touch you,  _"_  he patted the boy's silver hair.

XXX Flashback XXX

Meanwhile Twenty-seven wondered about what the boy told her.  _A girl? Ah wonder what it is. Is it bad? Ah don't know anything about it. Ah've never heard it._ They entered to another aisle.

 _But who could've imagined that Twenty-seven was a girl? I thought girls were delicate and harmless, like Lady Sora; this one is the opposite, she is clumsy and a dangerous weapon. Why did they put her with me? She didn't even know she was a girl._ He remembered the time when she asked him why she was different but he didn't pay attention to her.  _I should've noticed it since that time if I haven't been angry before, I am an idiot._

When they arrived to the next room the boy's doubts ended for the moment and he saw the sorcerer enter a narrow door next to the room and the nurses inside the white room. This was the infirmary. Here they examined the children periodically.

 _If they putting her with me were a mistake, they should solution it here and now._  All the children were lined up in arriving order.

While the silver haired boy was immerse in his thoughts, the girl watched all with curiosity. Each couple of children was taken to different places separated by white thin walls.

 _"_ Hey, Twenty-one,  _"_  she pulled his arm  _"_ What is this place?"

He turns to see her  _"_ This is the infirmary; here the sorcerer and their nurses examine you, and don't speak loud  _"_  he said firmly.

 _"_ Who are the sorcerer and who are the nurses?  _"_  she whispered.

 _"_ The cloaked men are the sorcerer and the women in white are the nurses."

 _"_ Why are they examining us?"

 _"_ Who knows, sometimes I ask myself the same but we just must follow their rules to not being punished,  _"_  then two nurses took them by the back softly.

 _"_ Come this way,  _"_  they weren't harsh like the guards, and guided them to a cubicle.

Inside the stand was a white table with a blanket covering it and a silver-gray shelf with strange items on it. But what was really strange was one of the walls, it was a mirror.

 _"_ What is dat?  _"_  the girl was stunned  _"_ Why there are two Twenty-ones and two pairs of nurses? And who is that person?  _"_  she pointed to each replica in the mirror.

 _"_ Are you retarded?  _"_  the boy shouted and the two women giggled  _"_ That's a mirror and reflexes the things in front of it! And that person is you!  _"_  he pointed to the girl's mirror image.

She went close to the mirror and touched her replica  _"_ That's how Ah look like?  _"_

She scanned her own image. Her eyes were wide, sharp but droppy and of a very neat color gray; her nose was straight and she was tanned like the teenager in her mind; her jaw line was strong and a little pointy. She had some spots there and near her left nostril and one under her left eye.

 _Ah look like garbage compared to him,_ She gave a glimpse to the boy image and studied it.

His eyes weren't as wide hers but had a serene and straight feeling. His bloody red irises were like bottomless pools; they were framed by long silver lashes and delicate eyebrows, his cheekbones were soft and he had a sharp jaw line.

 _Ah wonder how my hair is._ His hair was like a silver cascade at the same time it came to her mind she touched her bandaged head.

 _"_ Climb up please,  _"_  she broke her thoughts and did as the nurse order her. Then they removed the children shirts and put a cold silver-gray disc on their chests.

 _"_ Now breathe deeply and hold your breath until I tell you to release it,  _"_  the girl turned to see the boy and when he did as the nurse told him she did the same. They examined their eyes with a pointy lamp, checked their vital signs, length and weight them. All the data was recorded on sheets precisely. Then they undid her bandages and were amazed to see the healed wound.

 _"_ Lord Dune will like this,  _"_  one of them said and wrote on her sheets while smiling.

 _I think if he likes it could be good but the revision bellow the wrist comes next to this._ When they checked up their thighs weren't surprised to see she was a girl.

_This means they put her with me intentionally. Well it's fine, if I play my cards right and she learns more about her trick we can win the tests._

Meanwhile, the other nurse observed the boy's wound and cleaned it, the proceeded to bandage his forehead.

They gave them three pills and water to shallow them, but they faked to do it. Then a nurse walked towards the child to check inside her mouth, then she had to shallow the pills and almost lost her breath for doing it without water. The woman noticed it and writes it on her sheets.

When the nurses ended they went to the entrance of the infirmary and there other two women gave them a change of clothes and a roll of toilet paper. Then they left the room and went again to the corridor and returned to their cell.

 _Now here it come the delicate issue, how am I going to explain her about her being a girl? I think I'll do it just how Jajuka told me before._ His thoughts were silenced by the child's voice.

 _"_ Hey, now can you tell me what a girl is?

 _"_ Well, first of all, do you know that there are two kinds of persons in this world?  _"_  the child looked puzzled.

_I would have known it, she didn't even knew what a parent was._

_"_ Then, to make it easier. Do you remember how the guards look like and how the nurses look like?  _"_  the child waited and nodded.

 _"_ Then, can you tell me their differences?  _"_  the child tried to remember all about their looks.

 _"_ Well, I think the guards are taller than the nurses and have that hair on their faces. And the nurses have those bulks on their chests and small hands."

 _"_ Well, that could be enough to difference them, other differences could be that men are stronger than women and women are delicate in all their movements and that men are taller than women."

 _Of course that doesn't include you!_ He remembered her height and strenght.

 _"_ But there is something else,  _"_  he blushed deeply but regained composure by faking a cough and resting his fist in his mouth.

 _Don't be shy! This is natural!_ He has never been in this situation before.

 _"_ Do you remember that I have something between my legs that you don't have?  _"_  the child nodded.

 _"_ Then, that thing is what makes me a man, it's called a dick,  _"_  he looked to the window trying to avoid the child's gaze.

 _"_ Then how it's named the opening I have?  _"_  now the boy was red as a tomato and turned very shamed to see the child.

 _"_ As if I should know!  _"_  then he composed and talked low  _"_ I haven't seen any of those in all my life and Jajuka didn't told me its name,  _"_  he bitted his higher lip and pouted out his lower lip, he was very shamed  _"_ Do you have any question?

 _Bad movement!_ Now he had to listen another silly question.

 _"_ Well, you told me woman are delicate, but Ah don't think Ah am delicate at all, a woman must be smaller than a man, but Ah am taller than you and in fact sometimes Ah had defeat you in fight-  _"_

 _"_ Don't remember me that!  _"_  the boy looked angry "Not all the persons are the same, I told you about the most normal differences and features."

 _"_ Then, when we will grow you'll be taller than me and will have that hair over your face and maybe Ah will be delicate and those bulks are going to grow in my chest?  _"_  she moved her hands as if there were breasts in her flat chest.

He couldn't even imagine that scenario and looked to the child narrowing his eyes and opening his mouth a little  _"_ I don't think that even in a million of years that could be possible, I've seen ugly women, they are more like the men and maybe you'll be one of those."

_Of course Ah will be like that, even as a woman Ah am not even near of being as beautiful as him._

_"_ But maybe that's the reason you are here, because you don't have the same potential as the others girls, you are only useful as a warrior than being a courtesan  _"_  before the gray eyed child could ask he closed her lips with his index finger and explained

 _"_ Here are two buildings, in this there are only boys and in the others there are girls, Jajuka told me that they teach them how to be nice and don't oblige them to fight to death like they do us do, I don't know the details about them, but he told me they dress in beautiful clothes and have food all the time.

 _"_ They are very lucky,  _"_  the child drooled at the very thought of being feed when she wished it to, but felt sad at the feeling of not being with the red eyed boy  _"_ But I am happy they put me with you  _"_  she smiled.

 _"_ Sometimes you tell some strange things  _"_  after 'the talk' they returned to their routines until the day ended.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, I hope this haven't bored you and if you think the story is monotone, don't desperate, in the next chapter there will be more action and will introduce more characters, I swear it. I am waiting for your reviews. Then, without further ado, I bid you farewell until next chapter.
> 
> Some corrections were made to the previous chapters. Like removing the words in another languaje, a better explanation of Twenty-one's capture and the descritiption of Twenty-four marks. Here I changed the name of Folken for Dune [his movie name] and the description of Twenty-seven [from fair skinned to tanned].


	5. La Carroza ─ Inversé Pt1 ─ Twenty-four

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Disclaimer:** I don't own Escaflowne characters, only "the child".
> 
>  **ATTENTION:** This chapter will contain animals being killed and children killing each others. I don't support any kind of harm to animals or children.
> 
> Since I've taken more than two tears to update a new chapter, well, for those few who read it in ; I've decided to post here the first half of the next chapter. I will update here each 4 000 words. So, without further ado here is the chapter!

**La Carroza ─ Inversé**

Since the discovering of Twenty-seven's gender have passed ten days. During that time the children were training in combat and eating pigeons, after a training session they memorized the yard and the map Jakuka gave them. Each third day the children were taken to the showers and the infirmary, where the nurses observed, measured and weighed them. There they gave them new personal hygiene items and clean clothes. The second time the child went to that room; her head was no longer bandaged for it was meaningless, only the scar of her wound was visible.

But there was no day that the boy asked himself about his companion situation: a girl inside the boy's cellblock. It couldn't be a mistake because the nurses knew about it and didn't say a word. He needed the advice of somebody older, the advice of Jajuka, so he waited for his beastman carer. After half a month he arrived to give them some food and information, and then the boy told him the news. He almost whispered, because he knew his carer could hear him perfectly.

"Jajuka, I am going to tell you something but I don't want you to overreact, please, "the beastman nodded.

"Well, then here it comes: Twenty-seven is a girl, "the boy said the second half of the sentence very fast while closing his eyes and his hands in a tight punch.

The golden beastman stopped to breath, he was processing the words. He hoped he had heard wrong, his mouth dried and blinked quickly several times.

"I beg your pardon but, could you repeat what you have said right now?" asked the beastman.

"Yeah, some days ago I discovered that this guy, "he pointed to the child who was still sleeping, "is actually a girl."

"Are you absolutely sure about it? "the beastman was looking the boy to the eye doubly, he couldn't believe what his hyper sensible ears were hearing.

"Goddammit Jajuka, do you I am joking? Have I ever told you a joke?"

The dogman negated with his head while closing his eyes.  _How could I haven't noticed this before? Is my nose already used to this heavy atmosphere? Indeed, many years have passed since I ran freely in the woods..._

"Then, this isn't something I've made up, "the boy crossed his arms.

Many questions were flooding the mind of the slave:  _I'm pretty sure the sorcerers know about her being a girl but, why put her with the men? They could take her to the girl's section. It isn't like if they were running out of space, here are more men and boys than women and girls. Didn't they think about the dangers of her being alone with a hound of lustful men?!_

"They didn't put her here by mistake, we have been checked since the last day I saw you and the nurses didn't said anything besides ' Lord Dune' will like this" the boy made quotation marks with his fingers.

Jajuka's thoughts were running deeper.  _Of course they didn't commit a mistake this huge! And that makes them more twisted than I thought. And over all that, why did they put her with him? I know he's part of a nearly extinct bloodline but if they wanted him to mate with someone they could do it any time and with any girl they wanted to without any reason._

He gazed to the gray sky.  _Ah…Maybe I'm over thinking the situation. Maybe they want a soldier girl in place of a courtesan; maybe she is better fighting in a war than warming a the bed of a nobleman to poison him. He turned to see the child. But what is worse? Give her the life of a pampered prostitute or the death of a prideful warrior..._

Meanwhile, the boy was speculating what the beastman was going to say him, he needed some advice. Until today he had told her that it wasn't good if others find out about her gender, so she had to hide it. And that was an easy task for her, who could imagine that this guy was indeed a girl? She had rough facial features and a sturdy body, even her voice had a low pitch.

"My boy, does anybody else beside us know about it?"

"Well, the nurses didn't seemed surprised at all, but if you are talking about the guards, no; they don't know about it, I told her to be discrete." There was a trace of security in the voice of the boy.

"Good, you did well, they don't have to know about it, if it's possible, never; only Jeture knows what would they do to her if this information reach their ears..." the last sentence was almost whispered "Anyway, keep doing the same, and under any circumstances let them know this secret. But for now I will give you this."

He handed a bag to the boy, who cached it and checked the contents of it. Inside was a loaf of bread, two apples and four sausages. The boy whistled lowly and gazed to the dogman.

"Thank you, I know that it is difficult for you to get us this, but they keep trying to drug us with the food, "the boy closed the bag after seeing that the cloth had a new map over it and put it in his shoulder.

 _These must be the new traps in the field, it is better to analyze them and as quickly as possible._ The boy had been always a quick thinker and today was no exception.

"Don't worry my child, this is the only thing I can do for you two, "he have him a reassuring dog smile and left.

In the way to his cellblock the beastman had a sad gaze in his eyes. He had tried to look brave and give a reliable feeling, but in reality he was scared, afraid for the day they would notice her facade.

 _I don't want to think about it nor imagine it..._ The mere thought plagued the slave's mind and even his dreams weren't peaceful for days.

After a month they heard the guards making a ruckus. The boy was sneezing like the last five mornings; the light of the window has been gray and cold and it took him a while to warm up by himself without the child's help.

 _I think it is time…_  The boy gulped his saliva.

"Are you ready?" the silver haired boy has a serious expression on his face "Because now is going to start the real thing."

The child took a deep breath "Yeah! "she answered clearly and had a straight look in her gray eyes, then took the sharpened spoons from its hideout and gave one to the boy.

The red eyed boy took the mantles and put them in a bag then walked to the middle of the room and sat there; the child followed him and did the same.

"Do you remember what to do?" the boy asked like a brother would do to his little bother.

"Yes."

When somebody came near their cell they get up from the ground and a guard opened the door.

"It's play time, you sons of a bitches! "he shouts mockingly then left.

Like the times they were taken to the showers they passed to each cell and the others joined the line, but this time they walked to the opposite side and they were almost the first to join them. At the end of the passage there was a table with two guards' playing cards and eating. One of them stands up, takes a set of keys and opens a door.

Behind it there is another room with four doors, one for each wall. When they reached the middle of the way the child saw a wide gate at her left side, a narrow door at her right side and another entrance could be seen at the end of the passage. From there came a guard with more boys.

Twenty-seven saw many boys older than her and Twenty-one, some of them had soulless eyes and ashen skin; others had savage expressions on their faces or a desperate gaze. Almost all of them had bruises or bandages. But what was invariable was how they stare at her full of curiosity.

 _Maybe it's because she is new here or for the turban covering her hair. I shouldn't have made her a turban, it is garish but she didn't want me to shave her head…_ He look at his companion.

"Don't get intimidated by them "whispered the silver haired boy "I've beaten some of them, but don't get overconfident because we don't know if there is somebody new among them."

A guard opened the wide door at his left. Behind it there were stairs. In each side of the stairs there were benches and some lockers.

 _This is new, maybe is for the remodeling of the fields._ The boy remembered the maps Jajuka gave him.

"Take shoes from there quickly you rodents! "The boys went to the lockers and took out a pair of strange items.

"We must take a pair too; get assured that the shoes are of your size."the boy took a pair for himself.

The shoes were made of leather and had holes on top of them, its base was flexible and from what the child could see about how the others use them; they were supposed to be tied to the leg by thin laces.

"Do as I do, take the sandal and introduce your foot in the hole, but check that you are taking the correct shoe "he points to his shoe "the two soles are different "he pointed to the curves of the sole "when you have your foot in you must pull the rest of the sandal and tie it to your ankle and calf with the cord "he tied his shoe and the child did the same, intertwining the cords.

The boy's shoe had his toes and heel covered while the child's had her toes and heel tangled with cords and maintaining her thumb separated from the other toes.

The now two guards guided them to a gate and from it came out a light. They reached the yard. The gray eyed child saw many big rocks and a yellowish ground. Beyond this area were a grid and a narrow tall building behind it. At both sides of the field were two walls with a door. And there were two paths between each wall and the grid.

"Welcome to the battlefield " said sternly Twenty-one "this area is the sand field "he lifted some dust and let it drop from his hand. The children broke lines and reunited in groups randomly.

 _The place has changed._ In the middle of the sand zone there were many rocks.  _Those rocks weren't here the last time._ The boy turned to see the right and left paths and even it were the same.  _Those must be the changes Jajuka told us about._

"Let's go to talk with Twenty-four but you must keep silence "said person was sat on the ground far from the others. The two children walked towards the green eyed lad.

"Hi, Twenty-four "said friendly the boy "How are you? "the lad tried to fake not to be hearing the boy's greeting but the silver haired boy walked in front of him and patted his shoulder.

The blond lad remembered very well this red eyed boy, he was the only one who haven't attack him on the tests... yet "Hi, Twenty-one, it is strange for you to talk with me "said nervously the lad, he observed the gray eyed child "Who is that guy? Is he your cell mate?"

"He is Twenty-seven, and is here since the past month "the child smiled to the lad "but we haven't come to say hello but to make a deal "stated the red eyed boy while crossing his arms.

"What kind of deal…? " _I don't like his change of attitude; he normally ignores me in the field…_

"From the times we had been together in the tests I could see that you lack combat skills so, how about making an alliance with us? We can protect you each time somebody tries to attack you." The boy stated it as if he were talking about the weather.

"And why should I do that? " _Nothing is free in Gaea_ "you must want some kind of payment."

"You are right, we want you to help us too with that ability of yours, in any case we are in the same ship, the others are older and bigger than us but if we join forces we can easily take them down "the boy said that last sentence almost whispering "What is your answer?

 _He is like the others, like my parents and their thieves' band… they only want me for my ability but he has a point_ "Deal." Answered the lad seriously.

"The two of us will be at the front "he pointed to himself and to the child "and you should stay behind telling us the best way to the forest if a battle begins, understood? "the blond lad nodded.

From the tower come out an old man who stands on the balcony. He has a thick beard, wears a purple cloak and a thin hat "Today you'll start with an item hunting, you must cross the swamp, the forest and the pond in that order, then return to the door with one of this pebbles "he took out a small white rock with something written* and gave it to a guard, then he showed it to the children so they could give it a close peek.

"There are only ten hidden in the field. The one who could bring one of them will have double ration until the next time, and if you bring three together you will be sparred from the next test. "The others went close to the gate and posed to run.

 _I think we have two options; searching them and hope to find at least one rock... or wait to the others to find one and take it from them._ Thought the boy.

"On your marks! "said a guard "Ready… Go! "the guard moved a flag and all the boys started to run like crazy. The child was a meter behind the boy and the lad was at the child's left side; it was clear that the child didn't let him to surpass her or the boy. The others had the lead but the trio didn't give up easily.

A guy tried to tackle the boy at his left side but he dodged and continued running. Another one came out from his right side, he didn't see him but the child did. The child rushed to the attacker and tackled him; the guy fell to the ground and hit his head against a rock, he fainted and some guards approached to the field to carry him.

They continued running while the others were fighting against themselves. Sometimes they had to dodge the lost hits or a fallen guy until they arrived to a narrower area. But there was a different matter; it has thinner sharp rocks arranged like a labyrinth. They waited behind a rock before arriving there.

The lad was slower than them, and that was clear; he hadn't a strong physique or long legs neither a good breathing technique or sharp reflexes so when an enemy tried to stab him while jumping propelling with a rock, the only thing he could do was curl into a ball of limbs while protecting his head with his hands and hope for the best.

But this time he wasn't alone and, as her partner told her to do, the child positioned under the guy and punched him in the gut so strongly that he dropped off his knife and even emptied his stomach puking some of its contents along with some bile. Her gaze for a moment was cold like steel and sharp like a knife; but quickly changed to her usual goofiness.

"Are you fine? "she offered her hand to the lad and he took it.

"Yeah, thanks I just didn't see that one coming "the blond smiled softly "You have a good right arm and that upper cut was incredible.

"Dat was nothing, we are partners after all "she said with a calm smile while puting her left hand hehind her head.

"Are you two going to chat while drinking tea with cookies? "said the boy while taking the knife the other guy dropped and kicking his temple with his toe "We must go to another rock "and so they did, they hid behind another rock afar from the last one.

 _From what I can remember of this area, the quickest way to cross to the forest is going the closest to the infirmary. Then we should try to cross the swamp's area near the external wall._ The now leader explained this to his companions.

"I gotcha! "a guy jumped from behind a rock at the right side of the boy carrying a sharpened rock. The boy didn't see him very well and reacted slowly but his eyes glowed amber and an invisible wall reflected the guy. He extended that wall and threw him far away. What the lad saw was a transparent hand but the child couldn't see it.

"I hope he didn't hear us or that he has fainted "the boy and the child observed from an edge of the rock "I can't see him…

"Ah see him "said the child "he is there "he pointed to the northeast, the boy narrowed his eyes and saw the guy fighting with another one.

The boy narrowed his eyes calculating the distances.  _Those must be almost 20 meters so he won't reach us for a while._

"After we arrive to the swamp we'll make a scale near the infirmary's wall and Twenty-seven will observe the entire field to choose the best path of action, any questions? "his party negated with the head.

"Fine, we should get moving and do the same as I "he started to walk bending to keep himself out of view and making scales on each rock near the infirmary. His companions did the same. The screams of the others struggling were filling the air. They arrived to the end of the swamp's path and hide behind a rock taller than them.

"Twenty-seven, look above the rock and tell me what you see, don't let the others see you.

She climbed and saw the swamp's fog obstructing her view and heard people fighting inside the mist, then turned to see at her right and saw more guys fighting. Nobody was paying attention to them. She landed and sat on the ground to explain them what she saw.

"We'll follow the same plan but we must be extra careful just in case if anyone attack us and try to be sneaky. When we arrive to the furthest corned we'll follow the wall's line to the east until we arrive to the forest. The formation will be the same.

The boy started to walk like before, knife in hand and his companions followed him, they did scales each time they reached a rock and observed around the field each time until they arrived to the swamp. By this hour the sun was at his highest point but the sky was white with some gray shades.

This zone of the field was full of trees and smelled very bad. Inside it could be heard the screams of the others while fighting. To its left was a narrow path near the wall. They entered the area and walked slowly trying to not make a sound. They had the darkness of the mist and shadows of the trees and even the suspicious noises of the swamp at their favor but the air was heavy and difficult to breathe it and they had to walk inside the water.

"Give me that!" they heard somebody struggling some meters ahead of them. They hid behind a tree and waited for the end of their fight; the boy scouted this encounter.

The guy the boy pushed far away tackled another to the water and started to shocking him there; he tried to defend himself scratching his enemy face, but after a while ceased to move and his murderer crouched to take something from his shirt to keep it inside his pants.

That must be one of the pebbles we must search for! The boy weighted the situation while biting his thumb. We could only stole it... but I don't know if these two are going to follow that plan. Then he waited for him to leave. After that guy started to walk afar from them he turned to see his companions and called them to reunite close to him.

"That guy have one of the rocks the sorcerers want, I saw him how he took it from that corpse "he pointed to the lifeless body inside the water "Twenty-seven, go there and check if he has something of value.

The child nodded and went to see the body, there she found a shard of glass with a rag covering the widest side and took it to the boy. He gave it to the blond lad.

"I hope you know how to use it, because it would be a shame that when you were alone that shard ended in your foe's hands "said the boy with a hint of malice in his voice.

 _I knew it, he isn't that good, but what was I waiting for? That this guy turned to be a valuable friend? In the end all are the same, nobody does something out of kindness..._ The lad took the glass and nodded, he had to hide his thoughts from the others.

 _I must get one of these pebbles and for that we should ambush that guy, but how and where? That is one of the questions the other is: are this children ready to do something like that?_ "I have an idea, but I don't know if you two could carry on with it.

"What kind of idea do you have on mind? "said the lad.

"Well, the sorcerer told us to retrieve the pebbles, but never told us the method we should use, am I wrong?

"No, but I already know what are you trying to say.

"Hey guys, ah can hear something coming in this direction "whispered the child and quickly the three hid behind a tree.

The child saw something moving over their direction, under the dirty water of the swamp. But it stopped near the corpse, and then, the trio saw something new for them, a green living thing with an elongated snout and body, its skin seemed to be rough and very tick, its paws were good for it to swim but maybe to walk on the ground too, its eyes were between golden an green.

 _I don't remember if Jajuka mentioned them at all, maybe it is because this wasn't his assigned area._ Then, said beast, opened his snout and devoured the corpse with a single mouthful. But for a reason seemed lost and started to swim afar from them.

"What in the seven bloody hells was that?! "said the boy while touching his hair.

"I am not sure, but I recall that once somebody told me about big lizards living in the swamps, they are from the kinfolk of the dragons but far smaller, yet almost as smart as them "answered the blonde.

"Ah don't know, but the way it moved it's strange, isn't it? "said the child observing the place where the animal had gone.

"Why do you say it is strange? Have you seen one of these before? "asked the boy.

"Ah don't know, but he seemed to be kind of searching something and yet he didn't found us. It is strange also because he could have saw us before we spoted it and seemed more interested in the dead guy's body than in fresh flesh.

"You have a point, normally the big carnivores only eat living things, not like the scavengers which eat corpses "the boy furrowed his eyebrows in a thoughtful look.

"I know that it could be important, but its is dangerous to be still in the same place for more time "said the lad.

"You are right we must keep going "said the boy while calling them with his arm and started to walk to the north.

When they arrived to the furthest corner of the swamp the air was heavier than before and the mist was thicker.  _We must try to not lose our path here…_ He took the lad and the child by the hands and guided them to a rock.

"We must try to be near each other and not lose our way at the same time "whispered the boy.

"If only we had a rope or something like that "whispered the green eyed lad.

 _A rope or something like that…_  "That's it! Sit down Twenty-seven "she did as he told her and started to undo her bandages, after that he cut what he needed and re arranged the turban. He took the cloth then swayed it on his left wrist then did the same with the right hand of the child.

"Hey, Twenty-four, are you right handed or left handed?

"I am right handed "then the boy swayed the bandages around the lad's left hand.

"This is for us to not lose our path but if you feel this is endangering you when somebody comes just let it and run "then they started to walk slower and touching the wall, using the rope to maintain close to each other.

Each step makes them difficult to breath but they maintained relentless until the end of the swamp zone. For some reason the child had less troubles breathing than her companions and that did not go unnoticed to both of them. Beyond it there was a clear area with grass. They waited behind a rock and sheltered with the mist before leaving the area. The sky was darker and grayer than before.

"We should be boundless when we arrive to the forest " _We should reach the goal before it starts raining…_  "so for now I will arrange your tur-

"Wait "told the lad "this bandages can be used as ropes later and we can fool the others with it.

"How cold we do that? Do you have any idea? "asked the boy. _Maybe is for his skill and not his ability that he has survived all this time._

The green eyed lad wondered for a second "We can give them some uses like to climb high areas or landing on deep zones.

The boy pondered for not more than 10 minutes, frowning his mouth sometimes and looking to his surroundings.

"Good idea, what do you think about making one of us lure out one by one the others "he said this looking to the child "and when he reach our hiding place we can make him fall with the bandages to strike him down until he gets unconscious to tie him with the remnant of the rope… the question is who is going to be the bait "he said almost whispering.

"Ah could be the bait, Twenty-one "said the gray eyed child while raising her hand and with a secure look in her eyes.

XXX Flashback XXX

"You must follow the plan like I told you before: we must reach the forest the quickest we can, we will fool the others to fall into the traps, and do you remember how to do this?

"Yeah, ah must lure only one of them, even if ah must use my hair to do it, so he can't overcome me, run near the end of the holes and fake to be tired so he would try to attack me running straight to me.

"And what do you do when they doesn't fall for the trick or inside the trap?

"Ah must climb a tree or fight them.

"The best is to search for help. And after that you must cover your head, that flashy flamboyant color is such a double edged weapon. And one last thing, nobody must know we know the field before them or that we even had a plan.

XXX Flashback XXX

"Are you sure? Because you don't know the area and the places where they could be hiding "said the blond.

 _I want to watch him close, I don't trust him yet…_ "You'll do it, Twenty-seven. Let us see how lucky you are and also you have a good pair of ears but don't be reckless.

"Ah will be careful so don't worry "she said while smiling.

"Fine, then we should choose our hiding place and the ambush place "the boy closed his eyes and remembered the forest rock by rock tree by tree… hole by hole "in the middle of the forest there is a big depression, we could hide behind a tree near the cliff and make the victim fall to the hole.

"That only leaves us the hide place's matte- "said the lad but he was interrupted.

"Wait, I am thinking the fastest I can and making each consideration "he closed his eyes and touched his chin "near the wall there is a tree with a hole under its roots that could be used as shelter. "he started to draw the forest with the groups of trees and big rocks with a branch.

"Here is the depression "he marked a hole, it was far from the grill but near to the grass zone "and here is the hole under the tree "he marked a spot near the wall and not far away from the hole "you can reach the hideout running straight to the wall from the ambush place, but if we need to use it we should run making twists but not losing view of the wall, do you understand? "his companions observed the map and tried to memorize each fragment.

"Ah have a question "told the child "if ah am going to lure them, where do ah start searching dem?

"You can start where you wish but far from the ambush place because is going to be very obvious "she nodded.

"If anybody else has questions we should part to the forest "his party nodded and ran to the forest. The sounds of struggling continued.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *These rocks, indeed, have a dalecarian rune.
> 
> As I promised there is more action here. I hope you've enjoyed the chapter. If you think the story is too slow or extremely boring, tell me please. I want to read the critiques and personal thoughts…

**Author's Note:**

> I removed the japanese phrases - only leaving some that are important to the plot like the pronouns and things like that - because this would be very confusing and is annoying to scroll up there many times. In the original document I use ctrl+b but here this is ctrl+f and even that is still bothersome when you are reading concentrated. Prologue and Chapter I are now only one. Special thanks to Cyn V [ u/375322/Cyn_V] for the advise!
> 
> The use of ryuujin and madoushi was changed for draconian and sorcerer respectively. [10/20/2013]
> 
> I hope the "cajun accent" was not difficult to read for you, I am currently learning about it. Like I told you before, Strata-Assassin [ u/762324/]is the beta-reader whom helped me to correct many of the abominations in this chapter. Can you believe that, with a single chapter, actually corrected me most of my chapters and those who are on the way? She is incredibly awesome and you should check her profile!


End file.
